Spirited Away
by Moondalian
Summary: AU, Xover to Spirited Away: After his grandpa decides to move, Yuugi is forced to leave his hometown. As Sugoroku takes a shortcut to their new home they end up in the spirit world. YxYY SxJ [Can be read without having seen the movie.]
1. 01

**Authoress: Moondalian  
Editor: Tavi  
Summary: AU, Xover to Spirited Away: After his grandpa decides to move, Yuugi is forced to leave his hometown. As Sugoroku takes a shortcut to their new home they end up in the spirit world. What now?  
Pairings: Yami x Yuugi, Seto x Joey

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**For all of you who are shocked to see a new story of mine (while I've said so many times already that I need to do my work for school with all the exams) this is rather easy to write because I don't have to think of the plot myself. I simply follow the movie. T****hose who know the movie _'Spirited Away'_ will have probably seen by the summary that it's just the plot of the movie gone YGO. For those who haven't seen the movie: you're a bunch of asses. Go watch it.**

**Anyway, one little warning. My eyes are pretty bad so I can't see much of the details of the movie. I probably left out some of the stuff you can all see clearly but you'll have to forgive me for that. Other things have been changed to suit my plot.**

**I hope you all enjoy my latest creatio and R&R!

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**--: 01 :--**

_Good luck, Yuugi. We'll meet again.  
Your best friend, Ryou._

Yuugi sighed and stared at the card in his hand as the car he was in drove on. He _hated_ this. All he wanted was to jump out of the car and run back home, where all his friends were and everything he knew. Sadly that would include most likely breaking something while jumping and walking a _long_ way.

He picked up the small bouquet of flowers that had been laying in his lap and hugged them close, hoping to somehow feel a bit of the friendship Ryou had always given him through them. It wasn't working, and he grew more depressed by the second as they got further away from his hometown.

"This really is in the middle of nowhere," Sugoroku looked around his surroundings, "I'll have to shop in the next town."

Yuugi snorted, _'It's your own fault for making us move just because you want some peace and quiet.'_ He stared out of the window absentmindedly, watching tree after tree pass by.

"Look, Yuugi. There's your new school!" Yuugi glanced to the other side of the road to see his new school. For a second he could imagine the building to be a prison, waiting for him to enter so it could lock him up for good, but then shook his head and looked away. "It doesn't look so bad."

Yuugi glared at the trees passing by, "I liked my old school better." He pointedly ignored the disapproving look his grandfather threw at him. He refused to give in even the slightest when it came to this.

He lay down and turned his back to his grandfather, knowing the old man was now glaring at him but not caring the slightest. He would win this little argument and get his grandfather to apologize for dragging him away from all his friends and putting him in the middle of nowhere.

As he heard the crunching of plastic he looked down at the flowers still clutched tightly in his arms. The flowers were already crushed and dying, and Yuugi bit his bottom lip. His last present from Ryou and he was destroying it.

"Grandpa! My flowers are getting crushed!" He sat up and shoved the flowers into his grandfather's face to emphasize his point. Sugoroku sighed at the sad expression on his grandson's face and let the slight anger he'd had go.

"Well, no wonder, the way you've been clinging to them. As soon as we get to the house we'll put them in some water and they'll perk right up." Yuugi sighed and sat back down in his seat as he'd been leaning forward before.

"My first bouquet and it's a farewell present, how lame is that." He once more hugged the flowers to his chest, though less tight as before so they wouldn't crush even more. He fiddled with the card while staring down at it.

"What about the rose you got for your birthday?" Sugoroku was trying to cheer his grandson up but it simply wasn't working. Yuugi had obviously decided to be stubborn about this, and when Yuugi got stubborn, he was _really_ stubborn.

"A single rose isn't a bouquet." Yuugi knew he sounded harsh, but it was true. Sugoroku sighed again as he turned his attention back to the road, knowing this behaviour would most likely continue for quite a while.

"I'm opening the window, just try to cheer up a bit. I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think." The window was opened and Yuugi could feel the wind blowing through his tri-coloured hair, the blonde bangs sweeping into his eyes. Yuugi didn't even attempt to remove them and just kept staring out of the window solemnly.

They passed small shrines on their way and Yuugi glanced at them with a bit more interest than he'd given his surroundings so far. "Hey Grandpa, what do you think those shires are for?"

Sugoroku glanced at the shrines briefly before looking back at the road in front of him, "Some people pray to them, might even believe that spirits inhabit them I suppose."

Yuugi frowned. He believed in spirits to a certain point, but to pray to them? "Yay, we're moving into a town full of gullible psychos."

Sugoroku chuckled at his grandson's response before frowning and stopping the car. Yuugi looked at him curiously, his anger momentarily forgotten. "What's wrong, Grandpa?"

"I think I missed a turn or something." Sugoroku glanced outside and looked around to find any road he might've missed, or maybe a glimpse of their new home.

Yuugi frowned and got on his knees, pressing his face to the window to try and find anything that could point them in the right direction. He'd only once been here to see the house they were now going to live in, but he hoped his memory would be good enough.

"Isn't it that blue house right there?" Yuugi pointed at the house he'd seen and Sugoroku followed his finger to see what he was pointed at. Seeing the house he'd indeed bought, the man smiled, "Yes, there it is. I must've missed a turn." He glanced around once more to see a path leading into the forest next to them. "Maybe this will get us there…"

Yuugi's head snapped to the road his grandfather was now looking at and shook his head quickly. "Grandpa, you always get us lost like this! Just turn back and take the turn. Actually, just turn back and go all the way home again for that matter."

Sugoroku laughed at his grandson's desperate attempt to get them back to their old town as he turned into the forest road. "We have a new home now, Yuugi. And I'm sure this will be fine. Just sit back and enjoy the view."

Yuugi once again mentally snorted at that ideaThe view had been the same the entire trip and he was sick and tired of it. Nonetheless, he sat back down; taking the flowers he'd gotten into his lap, as he nervously toyed with the card in his fingers.

For a moment everything seemed to be going fine until the car started to speed up. Yuugi glanced at his grandfather nervously, knowing the man didn't like going too fast like this. The man in the driver's seat seemed to concentrating on his road a lot, silent curses coming out of his mouth from time to time as the car simply kept going faster. Yuugi looked outside to see the trees passing by in nothing but blurs and he started to panic slightly.

"Grandpa! We're going too fast!" Although he knew he was stating the obvious, he just had to say it. His grandfather didn't look at him, staying focussed on the road instead.

"It's quite steep here, just hold on." Yuugi really wanted to do that, but he didn't have much to hold onto. He grabbed the side of the door as wide amethyst eyes looked through the front window to see what was coming. He didn't like what he saw as a statue of some sorts suddenly came up. Sugoroku quickly hit the break and they stopped not too far from it with screeching tires.

Both males sat in silence for a second, still frozen in shock a little, before Sugoroku slowly started to relax again. The man looked curiously at the statue they were standing in front of, before looking at the building behind it.

Yuugi finally managed to calm his heart and looked as well, noticing his grandfather getting out of the car to examine the statue, and then the red building. He bit his lip slightly as he could already see the twinkle in his grandfather's eye that gave away his excitement. His grandfather had been an archaeologist, so finding something like this in the middle of nowhere, was definitely something to get excited over for him.

"Grandpa, let's go! The movers might get to the house before we do!" Although he hated the fact that they were moving, that was no reason not to use it against his grandfather right now. He had a really strange feeling about this place and he just wanted to get away. His grandfather seemed to have different plans though.

"Yuugi, come look at this." Yuugi sighed and hesitantly got out of the car, walking over to his grandfather as the other examined the wall of the red building and slipping the card he'd been fiddling with into the pocket of his pants subconsciously.

"Will you look at this? It's plaster, must be pretty new then." Sugoroku ran his hands over the wall, red paint flaking off as he went. Yuugi looked at the older man strangely. This? A new building? It looked to be quite old already with the paint flaking off like this.

He walked over to the tunnel that went through the building, feeling the wind blow into it, "The wind is going in…"

Sugoroku quickly joined him and looked into he tunnel curiously, the twinkle once more in his eyes, "Let's go check what's on the other side." Before Yuugi could protest the old man had already entered the tunnel.

"Wait! We have to get to the house!" Sugoroku once more ignored him and Yuugi bit his lip nervously again. Should he follow? He glanced around for a second, a shiver running up his spine as he noticed how creepy the place really was, before bolting into the tunnel as well and clinging onto his grandfather's arm.

"Don't cling like that, Yuugi. You'll make us trip." Yuugi ignored the scolding tone in his grandfather's voice and simply kept clinging to the other. He really didn't have a good feeling about this, and his feeling had never let him down before.

At the end of the tunnel was a room much resembling a train station. Wooden benches, coloured glass and something that resembled bird baths were scattered around the room. It looked to be abandoned for quite a while, and anther shiver ran up Yuugi's spine. His grip on Sugoroku's arm tightened and the man sighed in defeat.

"Where are we?" Yuugi glanced around nervously; half expecting to have someone jump them. He really had watched too many horror movies with Ryou but he didn't really care. Something was very off with this place.

"Hmm…" Sugoroku glanced around as well, though not with the fear that was in Yuugi's eyes. He held his free hand to his ear and listened for a second, "Do you hear that?"

Yuugi didn't hear anything for a moment, until a low whistle sounded and the sound of whizzing metal wheels. "A train?" Yuugi frowned at that idea and wondered why a train would be in a deserted place like this.

"Maybe we're near the train station; we should go check it out." Yuugi knew his grandfather was just saying that so they'd continue to investigate, but what could he do? The man wouldn't go back even if he would beg, he was simply still too adventurous. Why the man had wanted to move to a town where it would be 'nice and quiet' was beyond Yuugi.

As Yuugi was practically dragged along, Sugoroku looked at the shacks around them and buildings still quite a bit ahead of them. Yuugi wondered if the twinkle would leave his grandfather's eyes any time soon, but he really doubted it. Which of course also meant that he wouldn't be getting out of here any time soon… wherever he was.

"Aha! This must be one of those old abandoned theme parks. They were built quite a lot in the early 90's but most of them went bankrupt so they were just left like this." Yuugi somehow doubted that story, but he stayed silent as his grandfather kept going.

The wind blew around them and Yuugi could've sworn he heard the buildings around him moan. His grip tightened once more and he could see his grandfather rolling his eyes slightly. Yuugi didn't care. They really had to get back to the car.

Sadly enough, Sugoroku really didn't seem to agree and before long they were crossing a line of boulders covered in moss. Yuugi took a firm grip on them as he tried to cross, but slipped here and there on the slick surface. He cursed silently at his own klutziness as he went on.

"Well I think they were making a river here, wonder why they stopped." Once more Sugoroku was looking around him, examining his surroundings to see what he could discover. Yuugi was just glad he was almost over the rocks and didn't really pay much attention to the puddles of water that were laying on the ground. It seemed his grandfather was ignoring them.

After Yuugi was finally across the rocks, he sighed in relief before groaning as his grandfather simply continued his way towards the small town not too far away now. Great, he really wouldn't be getting away from this place any time soon. Knowing his grandfather he'd examine those houses until he either dropped dead, or knew everything about them. Yuugi actually didn't know which would take longer at this moment.

They entered the town and Yuugi slowly trudged around, not paying much attention to his grandfather running around, checking out house after house in an almost child-like fascination. He sighed as he almost crashed to the ground when his grandfather passed him to go to one of the houses on the other side of the street. Yuugi sulked.

"Would you look at this?!" Yuugi had the urge to turn around and walk away from his grandfather's latest finding, but decided against it. It would only make Sugoroku nag him about it later so he might as well check it out now.

To his surprise, the older man wasn't examining some building or whatever, but was looking into one of the restaurants with a hungry look on his face. Yuugi curiously came closer and glanced into the building to see a long table with food standing there, no one else around it.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm starving!" Sugoroku entered and sat himself down in one of the chairs. Looking into the kitchen to try and find anyone. Yuugi stayed by the door, not wanting to get into trouble for eating food that wasn't his.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" No reply, and yet another shiver ran up Yuugi's spine. This really wasn't good.

"Come on, Grandpa. They're not here and they'll get mad if you eat their food." He was once more ignored. "Grandpa!"

"Oh relax. I have a credit card and cash so I can pay for the food. Now come on." Sugoroku pointed at the seat next to him but Yuugi shook his head determinedly.

"They'll get mad! We have to get back to the car." Sugoroku simply piled food onto his plate and began to eat. Yuugi sighed in frustration, "Fine, be that way. I'm going to look around some more."

He left the restaurant and trudged around town again; glaring at the buildings he passed as if they could do something about his situation. In Yuugi's opinion they actually could, since his grandfather had been drawn to them.

No one seemed to be in the theme park – Yuugi still didn't believe it was really that, but whatever – and the creepy vibe Yuugi'd been feeling was only increasing as he walked further. Yuugi tried to ignore and shake it but it simply didn't want to leave him.

He reached a bridge with a large building on other side. Yuugi looked at it curiously, trying to find out what it was.

"A bathhouse…?" He frowned at the idea. What was a bathhouse doing here? Was that where the people that had made the food were?

His thought were interrupted as the sound of a train passing came from somewhere below him. Yuugi quickly turned to one of the railings and looked over the edge to see the train he'd heard twice now passing.

"There just have to be people here if there's a train, right?" Yuugi followed the train with his eyes until it passed under the bridge. Yuugi quickly ran to the other side to try and see where the train was going, standing on the lowest beam of the railing to see better, until he caught movement from the corner of his eye. Yuugi quickly looked aside to have his eyes widen at the sight.

There was a boy only a little older standing there, shock also evident in his eyes. Yuugi slowly let his eyes travel over the body that was sadly hidden beneath loose worker's clothes until he came to the other's face. Sharp features with full lips, crimson eyes and a richly tanned skin was what met him. Blonde bangs framed the face as some of that same blonde hair shot up into gravity defying ebony black hair in lightning shaped streaks, the black being tipped with the same crimson colour of the other's eyes.

Yuugi gasped at the likeness between the two of them – though he himself looked more childlike with softer features and wide amethyst eyes – before running his eyes over the other's form again. He swallowed thickly at realizing how sexy the boy in front of him really looked.

The shock in the crimson depths melted away to leave no apparent emotion in its wake. "You're not supposed to be here!" Yuugi stepped down from the railing and stared in confusion.

"Wha-?"

"It's almost dark, you have to get away before it's too late!" The older boy was starting to scare Yuugi now and he took a step back. The other kept a determined and cold look on his face though and approached Yuugi, "Quickly, get back through the tunnel. I'll hold them off!"

Yuugi didn't need any further warnings as he sprinted back into the small town. He ran back to the restaurant, not noticing the lamps around him coming to life or the shadowy figures appearing around him. He could only focus on the feeling of absolute dread that spread through him more and more as he came closer to the building his grandfather was in.

"Grandpa! We have to get out of here! There's something wrong with this place!" He got no reply as the figure sitting in the seat his grandfather had been in kept eating. Yuugi panicked even more, because of that not noticing the strange pink colour of the elderly man's skin.

"Come on, Grandpa!" Yuugi stormed over and tried to pull the other out of the chair. He looked up as the other turned his head to look at him and Yuugi fell back in shock and fear.

The one sitting in the chair was not his grandfather – although they wore the same clothes – but a pig. It turned his head back, starting to eat again as soon as Yuugi had let go, the food obviously more interesting.

A frog-like arm holding a whip in its hand came out of nowhere and started to whip the pig so it would stop eating. Yuugi stared in horror as at first the pig simply ignored it before it was whipped hit in the face and squealed in protest. It leaned away from the food to escape from the whip and fell to the ground, still squealing indignantly.

Yuugi couldn't take it anymore at that point and ran out of the restaurant, completely freaked out and his mind in total chaos. Where had his grandfather gone? Why had that pig been wearing his clothes? What the hell was going on here?!?

"Grandpa! Where are you?!" He stopped right outside the restaurant and looked round him, now noticing the figures seemingly made of shadows walking around town. Yuugi was sure that he was going insane and the only reason he hadn't caved in was the adrenaline pumping through his body.

Something bumped into his back and without looking, Yuugi bolted away, not even wanting to know what had been behind him. He ran towards the dried up river, hoping his grandfather would be somewhere around there but doubting it extremely.

He tripped as he approached the river and braced himself against falling on the hard ground. The impact never came though as ice cold water broke his fall. He gasped at the freezing sensation suddenly grasping his body and his chaotic mind only went into more confusion.

"Water?" There hadn't been any water here before. What was going on!

He quickly got out of the water, shivering as his clothes where now drenched and he was cold. He looked at the lake now in front of him; his mind not being able to grasp that water could've just appeared like that out of nowhere.

A boat drifted to the water's edge near Yuugi, and Yuugi panicked even more if that was possible. "This can't be happening! It's just a dream, a _dream!_" He clenched his eyes shut and buried his face into his knees, just wanting to wake up from this dream. It just had to be a dream, this _couldn't_ be happening to him.

He rocked back and forth, pressing his fists to his head as he kept chanting it was all just a dream, until a tingling sensation running through his hands made him look at them. His eyes widened as he could see right through them. "I'm see-through?" he held his fists up to the light of the boat to indeed see right through them. As if that wasn't enough, the wooden ramp of the boat came down and the doors on the vessel flew open. Pieces of paper seemed to fly out of the doors, until they reached the shore and strange red robes with green hats appeared as well, the paper seemingly serving as a face.

It was too much. His hands were going see-through, there was a pig instead of his grandfather, a dried up river had suddenly filled with water, paper was suddenly used for a face and shadows were walking the town that had been previously deserted. Yuugi snapped and ran up the hill he'd come from as fast as he could, tears running down his face as sobs escaped his throat and mind no longer wanting to take anything around him in.

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**And that was the first chap. I hope you all enjoyed it and don't worry, I won't keep torturing Yuugi like this. XD Updates every Saturday as usual and Review people!**


	2. 02

**O.o;; Wow, I had no idea I'd get so many reviews on the first chapter already °grins° Not that I'm complaining, you guys all rock! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and R&R!

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**--: 02 :--**

Yuugi cried silently, his body rocking with the sobs as he tried not to draw any attention to himself. He'd hidden in the shadows of the town, behind all the buildings and away from all the things in the streets. He was scared out of his mind, his body was slowly going more transparent, and he still didn't know what was going on. The only thing he knew was that he wanted to go home.

An arm was wrapped around his shoulder and Yuugi tried to pull away automatically, his eyes opening wide as he looked at whatever was trying to get him now. Amethyst locked with crimson as the boy he'd seen earlier on the bridge pulled him into his chest, not caring that Yuugi was struggling in protest against his embrace.

"No! Let go!" More tears streamed down Yuugi's cheeks and he tried to break free from the other's grip to no avail. The other simply pulled him into a hug, rubbing his back soothingly in an attempt to calm the younger. Yuugi tried to push away but his hands and by now transparent arms went right through the other's body. He sobbed louder before finally giving in to the older's embrace and crying into his chest.

For five minutes he did nothing but just that, just crying and shaking uncontrollably as the older boy rubbed his back and held him. It felt familiar and normal somehow, though Yuugi had no idea how that could be possible. He didn't care much either at the moment though.

After the five minutes the older boy pulled away slightly to look into teary amethyst eyes, slightly red now because of the crying the younger had been doing. "Shh, I'm a friend, don't worry." The boy held a berry-like something in front of Yuugi, "Here, eat this."

Yuugi immediately jerked away again, "No!" He tried to get out of the other's embrace once more but the older simply pulled him back.

"If you don't eat something from this world you'll disappear! It won't hurt." He practically pushed the berry into Yuugi's mouth, the younger making some protesting sounds but swallowing the berry with disdain.

"There, you're alright now. Look." The boy held up his palm for Yuugi to touch and Yuugi hesitantly brought his hand up. As he touched the other's hand, he could feel a solid palm under his touch and he breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't going transparent anymore.

"There, you see? Are you alright?" For the first time since the time on the bridge Yuugi looked into the other's eyes, the cold look no longer anywhere in sight and one of concern now showing quite clearly. Yuugi wanted to just melt into that look, feeling safe for the first time since he'd entered this world.

"I think so…" he relaxed slightly and the other finally released his hold. Yuugi somehow found himself wishing the other had continued to hold him, the feeling of safety now diminishing greatly.

"Good, now we have to get out of here. Come with me." The older stood up, taking Yuugi's hand in his and trying to pull the younger with him. Yuugi would have none of it though, preferring to just sit there and not go into the town of shadows where his grandfather had disappeared.

"Wait! What happened to my grandfather?! He didn't really turn into a pig… right?" Yuugi bit his bottom lip and looked down, pulling his hand free from the older's grip and new tears appearing in his eyes.

The older sighed, "You can't see him right now, maybe later." He wasn't answering the question, but he hoped it would calm the younger down for now. They needed to get out of there. Yuugi slowly nodded and made to get up as the older looked up at the sky, seemingly sensing something. He suddenly crouched down, pulling Yuugi with him once more and making them as small as possible, Yuugi safely in his arms.

"Be quiet." Yuugi tried to look up from the protective hold he was in to see a golden falcon with the strangest haircut ever flying over them. Yuugi almost wanted to wonder how a bird could have hair – not to mention a human head – but after seeing all the other things around here he just couldn't bring himself to be shocked anymore. He glanced at the boy currently keeping him out of his sight and saw the glare on the other's face, the grip around Yuugi tightening as the strange bird flew over them.

"He's looking for you." Yuugi wanted to ask desperately who the bird was that the older boy was glaring fiercely at, and who this 'he' was, but decided against it. His brain was already on overload and he probably couldn't handle more information right now.

The bird flew towards the large bathhouse Yuugi had seen and the older abruptly stood up, the determined look he'd shown on the bridge back on his face, "We have to go, let's run." Yuugi wanted to get up to follow the other, deciding to just go with whatever the other said since he seemed to be trying to help. His legs however, wouldn't move an inch, somehow not wanting to work.

"I can't stand up." Panic once again showed in the amethyst depths and Yuugi bit his bottom lip again. The older crouched down next to him and put a soothing arm around his shoulder.

"Relax, take a deep breath." Yuugi calmed down slightly and did as he was told, not really knowing what taking a deep breath would help but the other seemed to know what he was doing.

The crimson-eyed boy put his free hand on Yuugi's leg, "In the name of the wind and the water within thee," a black glow appeared and Yuugi's legs began to feel warm and tingly, "Unbind him. Get up!"

Yuugi didn't need to be told twice, as the older hoisted him up and they started to run at a speed Yuugi thought to be impossible. They passed through several restaurants and kitchens and Yuugi was sure he'd fall at one point but somehow they kept running without bumping into anything or losing speed. Yuugi once again couldn't bring himself to be surprised; too much had happened already.

They passed through a pig-pen and Yuugi couldn't help but look around in the brief time they were there, trying to spot the pig that had been in the chair his grandfather had been in. Could his grandfather really be a pig now?

They were out of the pen too fast to really see much though, and they passed through a garden next, before stopping at the edge. The bridge where they'd first seen each other was just beyond the gate in front of them and Yuugi wondered why they were here again when the older had told him to get away from there before.

"We're going to cross the bridge. You have to hold your breath while we're crossing or the spell I cast will stop and everyone will be able to see you. As a human you won't be much loved here." Yuugi turned a nervous gaze on the other, wondering, if that was true, why the older was helping him. A small hesitation came back to him. Was this a trap?

"Come on." The older opened the gate and they walked over to the bridge. Yuugi's heartbeat quickened as they got closer, knowing he'd never been good at holding his breath for long periods of time. That bridge suddenly looked awfully long to him.

"Ready?" Yuugi would've loved to say no to that question, but he nodded nonetheless, calming himself slightly so he wouldn't start hyperventilating. "Now!"

Yuugi took a big gulp of air and held it just as they stepped onto the bridge. No one started to panic so Yuugi figured he hadn't been too late and the other had been right. Now all he had to do was keep a firm grip on the older's hand – which was in a death grip right now so no problems there – and hold his breath until they'd crossed, something that would prove more difficult.

Yuugi glanced around curiously as they walked, seeing women on the other side of the bridge welcoming all the other people around them. Some greeted the boy leading him as 'Yami', so Yuugi assumed that was the older's name. Yami said something about being back from his mission, and Yuugi wondered what kind of mission that could be.

They were about halfway passed the bridge when Yuugi noticed a pale mime-looking guy following them with his eyes. He panicked for a second as the mime looked him straight in the eye, but the strange male didn't say a thing. Although Yuugi was unnerved by the fact that someone could still see him, he was glad that the mime hadn't said anything about it.

On the other hand, maybe mimes didn't talk in this world either. Yuugi sure hoped so.

The other side of the bridge came closer and Yuugi resisted the urge to sigh in relief. His lungs were starting to protest against the lack of oxygen and he really wanted to take a deep gulp of air. The one leading him seemed to notice and squeezed his hand lightly, "Almost there, just hold on for a little longer." Yuugi nodded, looking at the end of the bridge longingly.

Just before they were about to step off the bridge a small – if you could really consider it small anyway – frog jumped up in front of them. "Master Yami! Welcome back!" Yuugi gasped slightly in surprise and the frog stared at him immediately, shock evident in his eyes.

"A human?" The frog jumped up to take a better look at him and Yami immediately reacted by trapping the frog in a black bubble, before running away at top speed. The women who had been welcoming people on the other side of the bridge giggled as the wind made their clothes twirl around them.

They didn't stop running until they were crouching in a side room of the bathhouse, out of sight of everyone. Chaos had taken over in the room next to them, voices shouting for Yami and that there was a human in their world. Yuugi sighed as he felt his older look-alike put an arm around his shoulder again.

"I'm sorry, I breathed."

The other smiled and shook his head, "You did great, Yuugi."

"So… what now?" Yami sighed and leaned back on the wall they were sitting against.

"They'll find us if we stay here. I'll go to distract them so you can escape." Yuugi's eyes widened and he immediately clutched onto Yami in a tight grip.

"No! Please don't leave me! I don't want to be alone! I'm scared!" he buried his face in the other's chest, somehow not feeling awkward at all doing so. A sigh was heard as strong arms wrapped around him.

"It's the only way to save your grandfather." Yuugi's grip tightened at those words. So his grandfather really had turned into a pig then?

"He's… he's really a pig then?" The arms around him tightened in a silent answer and Yuugi pushed back the tears that wanted to come out. He'd cried enough for one day.

"Listen," Yami pulled away and looked straight into Yuugi's eyes, "There's still time to save your grandfather, but you have to get work. If you don't, the sorcerer controlling this world, Mariku, will turn you into an animal as well." Yuugi bit his lip and nodded, not wanting to leave but knowing it was the only way.

A cool hand was pressed to his forehead as Yami intently stared into his eyes. Suddenly the image of a door appeared in his mind. Yuugi's eyes widened at the strange sensation against his forehead.

_//When everything quiet__s down, go through the back door and take the long stairs down.//_ The door in Yuugi's mind opened and a long wooden staircase appeared. The image went down, going faster as it went until a new door appeared. _//Go through the door at the bottom to get into the boiler room. This is where Seto lives.//_ The metal door opened to reveal a boiler room before the hand on his forehead was removed and the images faded, as well as the mental voice.

"Ask Seto for work. He'll refuse you but you can't give up. Mariku can't touch you if you get work, but until then he can do whatever he wants with you. Understand?"

Yuugi nodded, reluctantly letting go of the other and pulling away completely.

"You will do fine, Yuugi." Yami got up as the yelling for him got louder. Yuugi grasped his hand and pulled him back and Yami looked back at him.

"How do you know my name? It's the second time you've called me by it but I never gave it to you."

A small smile appeared on Yami's face, "I've known you since you were little. Don't forget, I'm your friend. My name is Yami." Yami walked into the room next to the one they'd been hiding in and Yuugi listened as the older talked to the people there. He waited until things had become somewhat silent before getting up and walking over to the back door.

Like in the mental images Yami had shown him, there was a long wooden staircase there. Yuugi swallowed at seeing the state the steps were in and had a faint idea that they wouldn't be able to hold his weight. He took a deep breath though; he needed to do this.

He slowly crouched down and put his foot on the first step, biting his lip as it creaked under his weight. He slowly shifted on the foot, making sure the step could hold him before standing on it. He breathed a sight of relief before moving to the next step.

"This isn't so hard." He became more confident that the old stairs would be able to hold him and put his foot on the next step without much thought. The step creaked like all the others, before splintering. Yuugi yelped as he fell forward, only barely being able to catch himself, though only by running down the rest of the steps. He half wanted to keep running because this all would be over sooner, but the other more rational part of his mind was screaming at him to stop somehow, this part only becoming louder as a thick wall appeared right in front of him. Yuugi's eyes widened and he screamed as he ran head-first into the wall, groaning in pain.

"Note to self: Walls don't move out of the way, not even in this crazy world."

A window above him opened and another frog-like person stuck his head out. Yuugi stayed silent, hoping the frog wouldn't see him but it seemed the smoke from the cigarette the frog was smoking was keeping him hidden. Yuugi wondered why frogs would be smoking, but just shook it off.

Taking another deep breath, he pushed away from the wall and looked aside, seeing more steps leading further down. Yuugi gulped as he walked over to them and once more started to descend. Luckily for him, no more steps shattered under his weight and he reached the bottom of the steps safely.

The large metal door that Yami had shown him was right there. Yuugi hesitantly walked over to it, half expecting it to slam him in the face just as a joke, but he got into the boiler room behind it without any troubles.

The boiler room was hot and Yuugi was happy that he was wearing his old school uniform – he'd worn it to show his grandfather he really didn't want to leave – because it had a jacket that he could take off. After he'd gotten tied his jacket around his waist, he walked further into the room, glancing at all the pipes as he went. He came to a room with a wall full of drawers with holes in the bottom ones. Small black spider-like things were coming out of them, carrying black rocks that were then thrown into a furnace. Yuugi figured that the black rocks were coal.

He followed the spider-like creatures with his eyes for a while with curiosity, before his eyes caught movement somewhere else and he looked further into the room to see a man working at a station. He was grinding strange materials that Yuugi couldn't define, and Yuugi figured that this had to be Seto.

The man had neat brown hair, a lean body and although he was sitting, Yuugi could see that he was quite tall. Cerulean-blue eyes were concentrated on the work he was doing, and Yuugi hesitated in going over to ask for work as Yami had told him.

He was spared the trouble though as the blue-eyed teen looked up and banged a gavel against the side of his station, making all the black creatures withdraw into their holes. Blue met amethyst and Yuugi resisted the urge to back away at the cold look he was receiving.

"A human down here? Who are you and what do you want. I don't have time for you." Yuugi once more gulped before pulling all his courage together and stepping forward.

"Y-Yami told me to come here and ask for work. A-are you Seto?" He nervously toyed with his jacket and looked down at the ground, trying to escape that indifferent look.

"Yami huh? That bastard. Yes I'm Seto and no, I don't need any more lazy asses working for me; I've already got enough of those." Seto looked back at this work again, completely ignoring Yuugi's presence until a bell sounded and four tags of some sort fell from the ceiling being held up by ribbons. Seto cursed softly as he looked up and glared at them, probably hoping they would simply disappear into nothingness if he just kept doing that.

"Damn, four more tokens. Come on you pests, get to work!" he banged on a metal wheel close to him with the gavel. The small black creatures came out of the holes again, carrying the coal over to the furnace.

"Please! I need work!" Yuugi felt oddly bold talking to someone that had a glare to kill like this, but he really needed a job.

Seto however, simply snorted. "I have all the workers I need. There's soot everywhere and with a simple spell they do all the work for me."

Yuugi stared in confusion at the brunette. Soot? Workers? What was he talking about? He thought it over for a second before looking down at the strange black creatures. _'They must be the soot. This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder.'_

He didn't have much time to keep thinking as he felt one of the soot balls bumping into his foot. He looked down, seeing the creature trying to walk through his foot rather than going around it. Yuugi figured they weren't smart enough to think of something like that, the spell only giving them enough mental capacity to do their work.

"I'm sorry." More creatures pilled at his feet and he bit his lip a little. "Just a second." Yuugi carefully stepped over the soot balls at his feet and stepped over to the wall of drawers, sighing in frustration as he sat down there, making sure not to be in the path of any of the soot balls.

He wasn't going to give up. He'd simply wait until Seto was less busy and hoped the other would be in a better mood then.

He followed the soot balls with mild interest but quickly found their work boring him. A small soot ball in front of him carried a block of coal out that really was too big, and Yuugi frowned as it collapsed under the weight.

He stood up and grasped the black stone with both hands, trying to lift it but finding it heavier than he'd expected. He wondered how the soot could carry this but then concentrated on lifting the coal. He grunted as he lifted it up, the soot underneath popping back into shape as the weight above it was removed.

"What should I do with this?" Yuugi glanced at all the other soot balls around him, a questioning look on his face. None answered though, "Should I leave it here?"

Seto glanced at him and snorted again, "Finish what you started, human."

Yuugi bit his lip again before starting to walk to the large furnace, the heat growing as he came closer. He lifted the heavy coal in his hands as it was his turn to throw it in and somehow managed to do so. He quickly ran back to the wall, glad to be away from the fire. He panted lightly with the effort he'd just put into carrying the heavy rock.

The soot at his feet stared at him for a second, before one dropped the coal it was holding and pretended it was too heavy. The rest soon followed and Yuugi stared in confusion at the rocks now moving with the creature under them.

Seto banged his gavel against the metal wheel again, glaring at the soot balls with a passion, "Get back to work! Do you want to turn back into useless soot again? As for you," the glare now fixed itself on Yuugi again, "there's no work for you here. Go look somewhere else!"

The soot balls crowded around Yuugi, making protesting noises and Yuugi looked from Seto to the small creatures. Seto had looked back at the soot, his glare only becoming harsher now.

"Do you have any problems with that? Get back to work!" The soot kept protesting as the sound of a plank slipping aside was heard. Yuugi glanced up as a blonde crawled into the room carrying a basket with what Yuugi supposed to be food, as well as a bowl with another type of food from this world.

"You guys fightin' again? God, Seto. Can't you ever be a little nicer to da poor things?" The blonde didn't seem to notice Yuugi as he walked over to the station with the bowl, setting down in front of Seto.

"It's just soot, Pup. Leave it alone." The blonde rolled his eyes and turned away from Seto, taking whatever food was in the basket and started to feed the soot balls. Yuugi wondered why soot would need food but just ignored it.

The blonde slowly looked up as he noticed another presence in the room and honey-brown eyes widened. "A human? You're da one everyone upstairs must be lookin' for!" Yuugi's eyes widened, thinking he would now be turned into a pig or something as well, but the blonde merely grinned at him. "I got ta sneak out more food 'cause of dat. I like ya already."

Yuugi was utterly confused as even Seto stared at the blonde in disbelief. "Wha-?"

"Pup, he's a human and you actually like him?"

Joey shrugged, "He got me more food, end of story." He walked over to Yuugi and held out his hand after dropping the rest of the food to the soot balls. "I'm Joey; just ignore da grumpy guy sittin' dere. He's just cranky dat he didn't get some last night, if ya catch my drift."

Yuugi blushed as the blonde winked at him and Seto scowled, pointedly starting to work again. "So, what brings ya down here?"

"Uhm… I was told to get work here…" Yuugi trailed off, looking at Seto once more but the brunette still ignored everything around him.

"And of course Seto here refused ya 'cause he's got his soot ta play with." Joey 'tsk'ed at Seto, before smiling at Yuugi again. "He won't give ya work or he'll have ta give up his little toys. I think you'll have ta ask Mariku…" A frown crossed the other's face.

Yuugi gulped, "I was kind of told to stay away from him."

"Yeah, dat would've been really smart but Seto wouldn't give ya work if your life depended on it. Mariku's your only chance… although dere is of course a chance he'll turn ya into a pig like dat."

"Oh just take the squirt and get out already!" Seto glared at the two and Yuugi shrank back. Joey wasn't fazed even the slightest bit though and simply rolled his eyes.

"One, you're sleeping alone tonight again. Two, stop glarin' 'cause it really isn't workin' as well as ya want it to. Three… I dunno. I'll come up with dat later." He walked over to the brunette and pecked him lightly on the cheek. "See ya later, Dragon."

Yuugi stared in utter confusion at what he supposed was a couple. Joey simply smiled at him before pulling him towards the gap in the wall he'd come from, Seto's gaze half glaring and half disappointed.

"You can leave your shoes and socks here. Don't forget ta thank Seto for his _hospitality_, and den just come along." Yuugi blankly pulled off his shoes and socks before turning to Seto, "Er… thanks?" Joey snickered behind him at the glare he once more received and the softly muttered, "No respect," before pulling Yuugi over to the gap in the wall.

"Come on, we've got a long way before you're up with Mariku."

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**There, the altering to the movie has bugun! The Seto x Joey pairing for mostly put in for a friend of mine - so every S/J fan can go hug m_elodyz07 _for this - and I actually added some scenes to the movie just to give em some more screentime, but you'll see that when we get there. Anyway, Hope you all enjoyed and cya all next Saturday!**


	3. 03

**Yo everyone! Thank you all a lot for the reviews, I really hadn't expected this to be so popular. Now then, some of you wondered why I made Mariku play Yubaba and not someone like Anzu since most of you know I hate her. It's because Yubaba has a twin sister and Anzu doesn't have anything of the sort. Seeing as I refuse to make a second of her °shudders at the thought° I had to use someone who already had a look-alike. Since I don't see Ryou playing the role of Zeniba, the choice automatically fell on Mariku and Malik.**

**That's all I really had to say so have fun with the chapter and R&R!

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**--: 03 :--**

"Okay, Mariku's on da top floor. Da ass thinks he's everythin' but don't back down no matter what." Yuugi nodded at Joey as the blonde led him past all sort of machines Yuugi didn't even want to know the workings of. He glanced around curiously though, until they got to an elevator. Yuugi looked up but couldn't see the top. He was suddenly very glad he didn't have a fear of heights.

"Come on." Yuugi looked in front of him again and saw Joey already standing in the elevator, looking at him expectantly. Yuugi quickly ran into the elevator as well and Joey pulled a lever, the elevator moving upwards now.

Yuugi looked out of the elevator to see what they were passing until Joey suddenly pulled him back. "Watch it or ya might lose your nose." Yuugi's eyes widened and he stayed away from the edge a lot more.

They reached the top of the elevator and Yuugi was surprised to see the bathhouse itself, not the top floor. Joey simply dragged him further though, not giving him any time to ask. They passed through a kitchen and Yuugi saw the longing look Joey gave the food there. He couldn't help but laugh softly as Joey gave him an indignant look.

They came to a new elevator and Joey made sure to stand in front of Yuugi as someone first came out, making sure the smaller wouldn't be seen, before quickly stepping in now that it was empty.

"We're about halfway dere. Man, never knew it was so easy ta sneak people through dis place." Yuugi smiled at the victorious look in Joey's eyes.

The door opened on the next floor to reveal a very big and extremely fat man in front of it. Joey's eyes widened, "Err, welcome!" The man grunted something and Joey smiled nervously, "I'm sorry, dis elevator doesn't go up any further. You'll have ta find another one." He grabbed Yuugi's hand and dragged him away. Yuugi glanced behind them to see the man following them.

"He's following us." Yuugi bit his lip but Joey simply kept walking.

"Just don't look at him." They came to the next elevator they needed and the man behind them stopped next to them. Yuugi glanced nervously from the still closed elevator doors to the fat man.

The doors to the elevator opened and a group of people came out, being led by a blonde woman. "Right this way people. Oh, hey hun." The woman stopped right in front of Joey and the blonde smiled at her. He'd stepped in front of Yuugi to hide him from view once more and now tried to usher him into the elevator as the fat man stepped in as well.

"Hey Mai, doin' a tour again?" Yuugi glanced back as Joey made sure Mai wouldn't notice anything wrong. The woman frowned however, her eyes narrowing as she sniffed the air.

"I smell human on you, Joseph. Where's it coming from?" Yuugi could see Joey nervously sweating now. "Come on, do you know where the human is?"

"Is dis what you're smellin' maybe?" Joey pulled out a newt and Mai's eyes widened, immediately forgetting that she'd smelt human, not newt on Joey.

"Roosted newt! Give me that!" Joey grinned as he held the newt out of reach.

"No way, Mai. I stole dis out of da kitchen fair and square. It's all mine." Mai tried to grab for the lizard but Joey once more kept it out of reach.

"Oh come on, just a little bite! Just a leg?"

Joey just grinned even wider at the woman trying to grab the newt before glancing back at the elevator. "If you wanna go up, just pull da lever on your right."

Yuugi tried to reach around the man filling most of the elevator, but had trouble grasping it. He really wasn't that big, and the man in front of him was making this very difficult. Mai in the mean time continued to beg for just the tiniest bit of the treat Joey was holding up. As Yuugi finally managed to pull the lever, he could just see Joey taking a large bite before the doors closed. He chuckled lightly at the thought of the teasing blonde.

The elevator went up and Yuugi nervously fiddled with his jacket again, still very happy that it was around his waist and not on his arms. The doors opened again and for a second Yuugi thought the fat man would step out, but sadly the doors closed again before anything of that sort could happen. Yuugi glanced up as the elevator moved again just as the man looked down at him. Yuugi quickly turned his gaze away again, the fiddling with his jacket only becoming more nervous.

They reached yet another floor and Yuugi could see this was the top one. The man in front of him stepped out, allowing Yuugi to do so as well, before simply stepping back in and taking the elevator down again. Yuugi stared after him with a confused look, wondering why the man hadn't just gotten out before, but then just shrugging it off and looking into the long deserted hallway he was in now.

He hesitantly started to walk into a random direction, hoping he'd get to where he was supposed to go without seeing anyone. He continued for a while until he came to two large doors. The only thing missing was the neon sign with 'Mariku' and a huge arrow pointing at the door in Yuugi's opinion. It really wasn't hard to guess that Mariku would be behind the doors.

He made to push the door open when the door knocker suddenly started to speak. "Aren't you even going to knock? You're the most pathetic human boy I've ever seen." Yuugi stared wide-eyed at the golden door knocker, not knowing whether to be offended or just stay silent. He was spared the trouble of thinking about it too much though as the doors opened, revealing a hallway of more doors that opened just the same.

"Well, come in." Yuugi hesitantly glanced round as he heard the same voice as the one the door knocker had spoken with. Maybe if he ran now he could still get away?

"I said, come in." The voice was more forcing now and Yuugi felt his body being lifted off the ground and thrust forward. He cried out as he flew through the long hallway, doors closing behind him as he went through. As he entered an office he was dropped to the ground, hitting the floor quite hard as he fell. He groaned in pain as he stirred a little. This world just wanted to hurt him, didn't it?

Three gray heads grunted and jumped up, dancing around him as he stood up. Yuugi looked with wide eyes as the heads moved without a body, jumping up and down around him like it was the most normal thing ever. In a way, it probably was for them.

"Quiet down, you're making a racket." The heads jumped a couple more times, one of them trying to jump onto Yuugi before bouncing back to their master's desk. Yuugi bit his lip as he took in the person sitting at the desk.

He recognized the face and the crazy untamed haircut from the golden falcon he'd seen flying over his head as Yami'd kept him out of sight. The man sitting there couldn't be much older than Yami though, and Yuugi wondered why Mariku would be so much more powerful than Yami. On the other hand, this one had just flown him through a long hallway and he hadn't even really been concentrating since he was still scribbling away at some kind of paperwork.

"Excuse me; I was wondering if you could give me a job?" The teen in front of him slowly looked up, disinterest in his eyes as he raised his hand and made a horizontal movement in the air. Yuugi's mouth zipped shut somehow and his eyes widened.

Mariku laughed a little in his own amusement as Yuugi tried to speak but simply couldn't, "I don't want to hear such a stupid request. You're just a stinking, useless, weakling. And this is certainly no place for humans. This is a bathhouse for the spirits. It's where they come to replenish themselves." Mariku gave him a downgrading and disgusted look. "And you humans always make a mess of things. Like your grandfather who gobbled up the food for the spirits like a pig. He got what he deserved."

Mariku took a cigarette and lit it, "And you should be punished too." He took a drag before smirking at Yuugi who shivered under the gaze and exhaling the smoke. "You could be a piglet. Or maybe you'd prefer a lump of coal?"

Yuugi stayed silent, inwardly panicking but trying not to show it on the outside as Mariku laughed. He wanted to get out of here, _fast_. But this was obviously the only way to get his grandfather back to normal without turning into an animal – or apparently a lump of coal – as well.

"I can see you shaking," Mariku was obviously enjoying himself and Yuugi tried to stop the shivers that wrecked his body. "Actually I'm impressed you made it this far, but I'm sure you didn't do it on your own. Let's thank whoever helped you. Just who was it, squirt."

The spell on his mouth was lifted so Yuugi could answer the question, but Yuugi wasn't planning on answering that in any way. Not only would he be getting Yami and Joey into loads of trouble, the guy in front of him had just called him a squirt in a very taunting manner. Yuugi'd been bullied a lot in his youth and he was sensitive about his height since he was so small.

"Please, can't you give me a job?!" Again he felt oddly bold yelling at someone who could easily turn him into a lump of coal to use for the furnace downstairs, but it felt pretty good at the same time.

"Don't start that again!"

"Please I just want to work!"

"Don't say _that!_" Mariku hovered out of his chair in rage, papers flying everywhere as he flew to where Yuugi was standing and landed right in front of him. Yuugi's eyes widened once more and he tried to back away, but was frozen in place by shock and fear.

"Why for god's sake would I give you a job? Everyone can see you're a lazy, spoiled, cry-baby and you have no manners!" Mariku circled him, the dangerous look still in his eyes, "This is a high class place I'm running here so there's no job for you. I've already got enough lazy bums working for me, wasting my money since I have to pay them."

Yuugi went even more rigid as Mariku got a sinister smirk on his face. How could this possibly get even worse? "Or maybe I'll give you the most difficult work I've got, and work you until you breathe your last breath." The last words were said so dangerously, Yuugi wanted to just run out of the room and hide in a corner again. Anything but be here with this crazy guy that obviously wanted him dead.

The sound of something crashing and then crying was heard and Mariku suddenly looked up as a huge foot crashed through a door. Mariku's eyes widened as he ran over to the room, "Now look what you've done, you woke up my baby!" Mariku stuck his heads behind the curtains still keeping whatever was in the other room from sight.

"Don't worry baby, everything's alright. Daddy's here." He glanced out again as glared at Yuugi. "What are you still doing here? I told you to get out!"

Yuugi bit his lip but refused to move from his spot, "I want you to give me a job!"

"Quiet down, you're scaring the baby!" Mariku once more stuck his head inside the curtains to calm the baby that Yuugi guessed to be in the room down. More crashes sounded as Mariku cooed at it and called it a good boy. Yuugi really didn't see how wrecking stuff was being good, but he really didn't care either.

"I'm not leaving until you give me a job!"

Mariku growled in annoyance before looking at him again. "Alright, alright but just be quiet!" he disappeared behind the curtains, going over to the baby to calm him down further. Yuugi stared in shock at his achievement. He'd actually done it? He was getting a job? He didn't know how he did it but he felt pretty proud of himself for managing it.

A piece of paper flew over to him and he caught it, as well as the pen following it, and looked at it curiously. "That's your contract. Sign your name away."

Yuugi looked around quickly to find somewhere to hold the paper against but couldn't find anything so he simply crouched down to the floor. Mariku in the mean time came back from the other room, randomly waving his arms as the room cleaned itself up. Yuugi only half listened to the muttered complaints Mariku was grumbling. Something about promising everyone work, if they asked for it. Yuugi snorted.

'_For someone who promised that he sure makes it hard for people to get work. It took me ages and a lot of yelling to get it.'_ He signed the contract nonetheless without any comment.

"Are you done?" Before Yuugi could even answer, Mariku had already used magic to take the contract away from him and made it float into his hands. The spirit glanced at it in boredom.

"So your name is Yuugi? What a ridiculous name. You humans can't even give proper names! Useless." More was muttered under Mariku's breath and Yuugi bit his lip to keep silent; he really didn't like this guy.

Mariku pulled a golden rod from his belt and pointed it at the contract, a dim golden shimmer flashing, before pointing the rod at Yuugi as a blinding flash lit the entire room. Yuugi felt dizzy and he took a step back, before the light dimmed again.

"From now on your name will be Hikari, the name Yuugi belongs to me now. Understood?" Yuugi's mind was oddly clouded and he just nodded, trying to shake the weird feeling. Mariku smirked as Yuugi's mind cleared, a very victorious and creepy smirk in Yuugi's opinion.

"You called for me?" Yuugi glanced aside at hearing the familiar baritone voice and resisted the urge to go over and glomp Yami, before hiding behind him so Mariku couldn't do anymore crazy stuff to him. He knew he'd get Yami into trouble like that though, since Mariku would then surely know that Yami'd been the one to help him get up here. Yuugi mentally sighed and squashed the urge with great disappointment.

"The squirt signed a contract. Give him work, do whatever you want with him. Just keep him out of my hair." Yuugi's mind drifted off a little at 'whatever you want', getting some very X-rated idea about him and Yami. He shook his head. _'This is no time for crush! You're in a spirit world and this guy wants you dead! Crushes are _not_ good right now!'_

"Right." Yami nodded as Mariku turned back to his work, completely ignoring everything around him now. Yuugi was very happy to see the attention leave him.

Yami turned to him, eyes indifferent as they had been the first time they met, "What's your name?" Yuugi looked at him in confusion for a second, knowing the other boy knew his name, before remembering that Yami also had to pretend like they'd never met before.

"Yuu- I mean, Hikari." Yami nodded and turned to walk away.

"Follow me, Hikari." They left the office and stepped into an elevator. Yuugi was sure he'd get claustrophobic in this place, but took a deep breath and stepped in. Yami pulled the lever to go down without even so much as a glance at him, and Yuugi fiddled with the jacket still around his waist nervously again, glancing at Yami every few seconds. The older didn't give any signs of even knowing him.

"Uhm… Yami-"

"While we're here, you have to call me Master Yami." Yuugi flinched at the harsh tone in Yami's voice, looking back down while trying to hold back his tears. One of the only people in this world that had been nice to him was now basically telling him to shut up.

Yami glanced down shortly, his cold look turning into one of guilt as he saw the crestfallen look on Yuugi's face, "If you don't people will start suspecting something." Yuugi immediately looked up to see guilty crimson looking at him. He smiled slightly and the crimson warmed up again.

They reached their destination without another word but in comfortable silence. As they stepped out, most of the workers were gathered around them in curiosity. Somehow it had apparently already leaked that a human had been employed. Yami's cold look returned to his face, "Listen up. Hikari here is going to work and you'll just have to deal with it."

Protests were heard from everywhere but Yami just glared at all who dared to speak up too loud. "I said, _deal with it!_ The smell will go away after a few days of eating our food so stop whining about it."

Mutters were still heard but most spirits now stayed quiet. Yuugi looked around nervously, "I'll work really hard." No one seemed convinced and mutters of 'just don't put him with us' were now heard. Yami ignored them all.

"Where's Joey?" The blonde stepped forward frowning, to all pretending like he really didn't like this.

"What? You're givin' him ta me?" Snickers went all around and agreements sounded from different directions.

"That's perfect, put him with the Mutt!" Joey glared around and snorted. Amusement shone in Yami's eyes for a brief second before he hid it.

"You said you wanted help so now you have it." Everyone was already walking away from the scene as Yuugi stepped over to the blonde still glaring at everyone around him. As Yami and Joey looked at each other a second later, a silent deal to keep Yuugi out of trouble was made between them, before Yami turned and walked away as well.

"Come on, kid." Joey took Yuugi's hand and dragged him off, pretending to all around him that he didn't like this one bit, but inwardly cheering. Yuugi had made it to Mariku and had even gotten a job. Not many were able to pull off something like that considering that Yuugi was a human and Mariku couldn't stand humans. Only one other human had ever managed to get a job here, but no one really knew who he or she was. It had been kept all hushed up.

As they left the busy part of the bathhouse, Joey turned around with a bright smile, "I can't believe ya pulled it off! You have a lot of guts, ya know." Yuugi smiled a little. He was starting to get confused at all the mood swings everyone around here seemed to have.

"Come on, we'll go get you your clothes and some sleep after dat. You must be exhausted." Yuugi nodded, only now noticing how tired he really felt. There'd been so much going on around him that he simply hadn't had any time to think about how tired he really was.

They walked into what Yuugi supposed to be a bedroom and Joey turned to one of the closets, looking through it to find a uniform that would fit Yuugi.

"Damn, no offence Hikari, but you're small." Uniform after uniform was pulled out and discarded as Joey found them too big. Yuugi pouted at being called small but didn't comment on it any further. Joey didn't mean it as an insult and was only trying to help after all.

"Hey Joey… what's Yami like?" The blonde glanced down at him with a raised eyebrow, before looking for a fitting uniform again, "He's Mariku's right hand. Some say he does all da dirty work for da guy but I dunno. I personally don't mind him. Ya just gotta stay out of his way, ya know?"

Yuugi nodded slowly. So Yami was supposed to follow every single order Mariku gave him? But… wouldn't that mean that this could've all been ordered by Mariku? That Yami was just being nice to lead him into some sort of trap?

But would Yami really do that? Each time Yuugi looked into the other's eyes he could see compassion there, warmth. Not the cold he looked at all the other's with. Could someone really pull something like that off? Yami'd even looked guilty in the elevator when he'd been so cold…

His mind was once more in utter chaos. He didn't know if Yami was really being nice to him or just pretending to, and it really bugged him. Okay, so maybe he did have a crush and his body wasn't listening to his mind telling him it couldn't happen. This really sucked.

Yuugi sat down on the ground, utterly depressed and confused once more. Joey grinned at that point as he pulled out a uniform that wasn't too big. "Got it! I knew we still had a small one." The blonde turned around in triumph but blinked as he saw Yuugi so depressed.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He crouched down as well but Yuugi didn't answer, just staring at the ground blankly. Joey sighed as silent tears ran over the younger's face. He didn't quite know what was going on, but he figured it was the overload on the other's brain. He actually admired the boy for not going completely insane after everything he must've gone through.

"Come on; let's go get some sleep, huh? You'll probably feel better tomorrow."

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**And that's all for this chapter. See you all next week and Review!**


	4. 04

**Muwahahaha, be ready for major fluff! Yes people, I've finally found some time to put some real YxYY fluff into this all. Hope you all enjoy and R&R!

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**--: 04 :--**

Yuugi whimpered softly, trying desperately to get to sleep again but failing. He'd slept only a few hours and he was still tired. His mind however refused to go to sleep again, once more swimming with confused thoughts about everything going on.

He was in a strange world with spirits, currently working in a bathhouse so he wouldn't be turned into a pig by some crazy guy with a haircut that could actually rival his in weirdness.

His grandfather had been turned into a pig and who knew what could happen to him. He could be eaten for all Yuugi knew. He needed to find a way to change his grandfather back but he really didn't know how.

And then there was the one person plaguing his thoughts most: Yami. Was he really trying to help? Or was he just following orders from Mariku to lead him into some sort of trap?

He was utterly confused and really didn't know what to do. He just wanted to curl up and stay here, trying to empty his thoughts.

The sound of a door opening behind him was heard and Yuugi froze for a second. He clenched his eyes and tried to stay as silent as possible so whoever just came in would think he was asleep and would just leave him alone. Footsteps came closer until a hand was put on his shoulder and Yuugi froze up even more.

"Meet me at the bridge, I'll take you to your grandfather." The hand was removed again and the footsteps left. Yuugi had recognized the baritone voice though. As soon as the he heard the door close again he jumped out of bed, trying to stay silent as he looked around for his regular clothes for a second but not finding them. He sighed in annoyance as he quickly put on the worker's clothes Joey had given him last night.

He ran out of the room and into an elevator to go down. He still didn't know whether to trust Yami or not, but the thought of seeing his grandfather – as a pig or not – made him run as fast as he could, as he descended all the flights of the bathhouse. He would just have to trust his crimson-eyed look-alike.

Besides, his hormones were screaming at him too. He wanted to see Yami again. He just hoped to see the gentle side, not the cold one.

He reached Seto's boiler room and looked around for his shoes and socks. Neither could be seen anywhere around and Yuugi stared in confusion. He left them here, so where were they now?

"My shoes…" The soot balls looked out of the holes in the wall of drawers as they heard Yuugi's voice. Seto was still asleep so they didn't have anything to do at the moment. They withdrew for a second to come with with Yuugi's shoes and socks. Yuugi smiled at the black creatures, before quickly taking the items and putting them on.

"Thank you!" He ran out of the boiler room, glaring at the stairs he now had to climb. He took a deep breath before starting to climb the rotten wooden steps. He got up without any steps splintering and resisted the urge to point and laugh at the stairs in victory. This of course would've been quite weird since the stairs weren't really trying to stop him.

At least Yuugi thought they weren't.

He quickly made his way to the bridge, but stopped in his tracks as he saw the strange mime-like person there once more. For some reason the mime creeped him out. After all, Yami had said no one could see him but the mime had looked him straight in the eye when they had crossed the bridge the first time.

A shiver briefly ran down his spine before he started crossing. He needed to get to the other side; Yami was waiting for him after all. As soon as he had passed the mime, he ran the rest of the way, wanting to be as far away from the creepy guy as possible.

Once on the other side he turned to look back and see if the mime had followed him or anything, but feeling eyes on him made him turn back. He found Yami already standing there, waiting for him.

"Follow me." The older turned around and started to walk back into the garden they'd passed through when going to the bath house. Yuugi swallowed thickly, remember that they'd also gone through a pig-pen at that point, and that that was most likely the place where his grandfather would be in his current state.

They walked in silence for a while until Yami slowed his pace a little to walk together with Yuugi, "We'll have to hurry. If someone finds us you'll probably be turned into a pig as well." Yuugi nodded, immediately glancing around nervously. No one was around though, so they were safe for now.

"Good, you must also never come here without me. It's far too dangerous. Understood?" Yuugi nodded once more, his trust towards the other growing a bit more. Yami was once more trying to keep him safe. So far, no traps or anything of the sort.

Yuugi mentally sighed, Yami was looking out for him and here he was, thinking up conspiracy theories for the other. He felt slightly ashamed of himself but the tiniest bit of apprehension stayed with him.

They entered the pig-pen and Yami stopped. Yuugi bit his lip before looking at the cage Yami was motioning to. His eyes widened at seeing a fat pig laying there, seemingly more dead than alive. Yuugi quickly ran over to the gate keeping the cage closed. "Grandpa, are you okay? It's me, Hikari!" the name didn't even sound strange to him even though it was the one he'd gotten from Mariku, not his real one. In fact, Yuugi's mind only registered the name 'Hikari' as his, not remembering any other.

No response came from the pig and Yuugi bit his lip. "Come on! Wake up! Grandpa!" Again no response and Yuugi panicked slightly. Was his grandfather sick or something?

He felt arms slip around his waist and pull him into a hug from behind. Yuugi looked behind him to see sympathetic crimson eyes look back at him. The last bit of doubt left Yuugi; no one could give a look like that and not mean it.

"What's wrong with him? Is he sick or something?" Yuugi leaned back into the hug, looking worriedly at the pig. Yami rubbed his stomach in a comforting manner.

"No, he simply ate too much and is sleeping it off now. It's up to you to remember which one he is though." Yami grip tightened slightly and Yuugi suddenly realized in what position he actually was. He was being held by a guy he barely knew and was considering a crush, and for some reason it didn't feel strange the slightest bit.

He shifted nervously a bit and Yami must've noticed as his grip loosened, giving Yuugi a chance to get away if he wanted. Yuugi didn't move, though, the embrace felt far too safe for that.

He looked back at the cage for a few more moment before sighing, "He better not eat too much or they'll eat him." Yami chuckled behind him before unwrapping one arm and using the other to guide Yuugi away from the pig-pen. Yuugi glanced behind him once more to take in the animal form of his grandfather, before turning back and focusing on walking wherever Yami was taking him.

Yami simply took him into the garden again though, letting go so they could sit down in the green, lush grass. Yuugi sat down with a sigh, pulling his knees to his chest as Yami sat down next to him.

Yami pulled something out of a bag he'd been carrying around and Yuugi looked up curiously, "Here are you clothes, keep them somewhere safe so you don't lose them again."

Yuugi eyes widened as he took the clothes from Yami and looked at them, "I thought they'd been thrown away." He happily fiddled with the clothes, glad to have them back. Something in the pocket of his jeans caught his attention and he pulled it out, revealing the goodbye card Ryou and given him.

"Ghe, my card's even still here." He read over the card again, frowning as he read the name at the bottom. "Yuugi…?" His mind tried to remember the name until his eyes widened, "That's my name! Yuugi, not Hikari!" he looked up at Yami to see the other smiling.

"That's how Mariku controls everything, by stealing your name and changing it. You must hold on to that card and hide it so no one can take it away. As long as you're here though, you'll have to call yourself Hikari so no one will suspect anything." Yami suddenly gained a faraway look on his face, as if remembering something. Yuugi cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.

"If that's true… then what's your name?" Yuugi could've sworn he saw Yami flinch at the question ever so slightly, but it was covered up in no time. He wasn't even sure if it had really been there or just his imagination.

"I've tried everything to remember mine, but I simply can't recall it, no matter what I try." Yami looked away at the ground sadly and Yuugi felt a pang of guilt at having asked. He hesitantly wrapped an arm around the other, trying to comfort him. Yami looked up at him again, smiling a little at the look in Yuugi's eyes.

"Don't worry about it, Little One. It's really strange though. I can't remember what my name is, but for some reason I remember yours while I can't recall any time we've met before. Just that we were both still little children."

Yuugi frowned at that but couldn't shake the feeling that they'd indeed known each other from before. Yami looked thoughtful for a moment longer, before snapping out of it and grabbing something else from the bag next to him.

"I brought you some food since I know Mariku isn't one to give that away a lot." Yami chuckled to himself for a second, "Though you picked a good friend in that department, Joey is really good at sneaking extra food out."

Yuugi laughed a little at that before taking the food offered but not taking a bite, "I'm not really that hungry…" He played with it a little in his hands before Yami took it from him.

"I put a spell on it to give you your strength back. You'll need it, trust me." He didn't offer it back to Yuugi and simply held it to Yuugi's mouth so he could take a bite. Yuugi smiled slightly at the childish gesture but took a bite nonetheless.

An arm was once more wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer and Yuugi rested his head on Yami's shoulder. The older smiled gently again as he continued to feed Yuugi. They just sat there for a time, watching the clouds above them go by and listening to birds – Yuugi hoped they were birds anyway – sing.

After some time Yami shifted and Yuugi pulled away from him, allowing the other to stand up and hold his hand out for Yuugi to take, "You should get back to the bathhouse to get some more sleep before they come to wake you up for work."

Yuugi sighed, not really wanting to go but knowing he really did need the sleep for the rest of the day. He accepted the hand and Yami helped him up, before they started walking towards the gate to the garden.

"I have to go for some time, but don't worry about it. Just try to keep out of trouble okay?" Yuugi pouted slightly at the suggestion that he'd get himself into trouble and Yami chuckled, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Yuugi in a short hug. He briefly kissed Yuugi's forehead before letting go and walking in the opposite direction.

Yuugi's cheeks heat up at the small kiss and he quickly turned away in case Yami looked back. He ran through the gate so he was out of Yami's sight before looking back. A black dragon flew through the sky and Yuugi briefly stared at it. He couldn't explain how, but for some reason he could feel that that dragon was Yami. He stared after it, a feeling of dread for some reason creeping up on him again as he watched the dragon disappear. For some reason, he knew something bad was going to happen, but he couldn't do anything about it.

Sighing, he turned back to the bridge and froze shortly at seeing the mime still standing there, but then hit himself mentally. The mime had not once done anything to him, he was just creepy.

Yuugi simply walked over the bridge, refusing to start running as he passed the mime. Nothing would happen. It was just another spirit from this world, no one special.

He walked down the worn wooden staircase once more, but calmer this time as if he was more confident now. The steps didn't splinter and he got down without any trouble.

Once down though he could feel how tired he really was after everything that had happened in the last hour or so. He hadn't had much sleep before this after all. He yawned as he entered the boiler room, the heat only making him more drowsy. After he'd taken off his shoes and socks once more the tiredness took over and he lay down without a second though, using the bundle of clothes Yami'd given him back as a pillow.

That's how Seto found him when the brunette woke up a couple of hours later. The soot balls were sleeping around the young boy and Seto couldn't help but let the tiniest of smiles creep onto his face – though he'd deny to any who asked.

Seto simply started up work, trying to stay as silent as possible so Yuugi could sleep some more. Joey later came down with breakfast and completely panicked until he saw Yuugi sleeping on the ground.

"So dis is where he went." He cocked his head to the side in confusion, "Wonder why he's down here and not in bed."

Seto shrugged as he took the bowl of food Joey had taken with him, "No idea, Pup. But make sure he stays upstairs next time, or I might have to buy a leash for the both of you." Joey swatted him playfully, knowing Seto's bark was far worse than his bite.

As a retort, Seto simply pulled Joey in his lap and kissed the blonde, making sure the bowl of food wouldn't fall to the ground. Joey eagerly returned the kiss.

Sadly enough for Yuugi, that's what he woke up to. Moans in the air and clothes not all in place anymore. Yuugi would never look at the two the same way ever again.

* * *

"So where did ya go? I mean ya weren't in bed and in da boiler room so you had to have gone somewhere." Yuugi looked away nervously, not wanting to tell his blonde friend that he'd been with Yami. It somehow felt strange for a low worker to be spending time with the right hand of the boss. Somehow Yuugi knew that didn't work well. 

"No place special, just couldn't sleep so I went to look around." Joey frowned at him and Yuugi pointedly ignored his gaze, knowing his eyes were like an open book and Joey would see he was lying.

"You should watch out with dat, you could get inta trouble." Yuugi just nodded, keeping his gaze ahead of him as he kept walking to wherever he was supposed to work right now.

Joey didn't seem very convinced of his answer but dropped the subject nonetheless. The blonde guided him through the already crowded halls to the room they had to clean. Joey gave him a rag and simply pointed at a bucket of water with soap. Yuugi frowned at the primitive way of cleaning but just shrugged it off. It wasn't like he really expected any more advanced cleaning stuff anyway.

Most people kept a close eye on him as he started to clean the floor, obviously having no trust in a human. Yuugi was determined to show them he could do something however. It didn't matter to him that he was only doing this so he wouldn't be turned into a pig. He'd show these spirits what humans were made of.

Sadly enough his body seemed to disagree with his determination and he slipped on the wet floor as he went. Snickers were heard as Yuugi got up, grumbling to himself what a complete idiot he really was and that he really had to stop falling and crashing into stuff. Something told him that it would be very hard to stop doing that though, this world really seemed to have a bad effect on him.

He gave everyone around him that was snickering a quick annoyed look – which sadly did not faze anyone – before going on with his work. He managed to not fall anymore, and in the end mentally stuck his tongue out at everyone around him. There, humans were just as good as these people and Yuugi would prove it.

As the bucket of water had become too dirty to use and they were done with the floor anyway, Yuugi quickly took it and walked over to one of the doors leading outside. Rain was pouring down harshly and Yuugi was quite happy not to be out there. His mind briefly turned to his grandfather but he pushed it aside, assuming the other would be safe in his pen.

He quickly emptied the bucket, wanting to close the door and get back to the warmth of the bathhouse but suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine again. He looked up to see the strange mime looking at him from a distance and the shivering increased. Yuugi still didn't quite trust the other.

Nonetheless, the guy was getting soaked in the rain and Yuugi didn't want him to get sick – if spirits could even become sick in the first place. He nervously smiled, calming himself down as much as he could, "Hello, aren't you getting wet?"

He got no response as the mime just kept staring at him. Another shiver ran down Yuugi's spine but he once more tried his best to suppress it. "I'll leave the door open for you okay?" He quickly went back in, the mime still unnerving him greatly. He didn't even look back to see if the other came in or not, but he had a feeling the mime had. he tried to ignore the feeling though as he continued his chores.

"Bad luck, Joey. You and the human get the big tub." Yuugi looked up curiously and saw the woman Joey had been talking to when the blonde had first sneaked him to Mariku – Mai was it? – standing there with a slightly amused smile on her face. Joey's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Mai.

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me! Dat's frog work!" The blonde glared around him, trying to figure out who had made this decision. Mai in the mean time smirked and shrugged.

"Sorry, hun. Command from the higher ups." Mai petted his shoulder in a sympathetic, yet slightly teasing way, before turning around to do her own work again. Joey let out a frustrated sigh and glared at the ceiling as if it could really do anything about his situation.

"Uhm… what's the big tub?" Joey didn't say another word as he grabbed Yuugi's arm and started to pull him into a, to Yuugi, random direction. Yuugi had no idea what was going on, but he figured Joey was dragging him to the big tub to show him what it was. As they entered a large room, Yuugi's eyes widened at what he saw.

A huge tub was in the centre of the room, but it wasn't as clean as the rest in the bathhouse. Grime covered the tub on the inside as the floor around it was also covered in dirt. Yuugi stared at it wide-eyed, suddenly understanding Joey's disdain when Mai had told them about the big tub. It was quite obvious that this had been what the woman had meant.

"Dis is da big tub. We wash our filthiest customers in dis thin'." Joey pulled a face as he looked over the amount of sludge caked onto the sides. "Dis will take weeks to wash off, just look at it!"

Yuugi had to admit that it looked rather pointless to try and clean the tub, but an order was an order. He'd promised Yami he would try his hardest and so he would.

They started, Yuugi feeling slightly nauseous as he stood in the tub and tried to clear all the grime and sludge away. Joey muttered soft curses behind him, obviously not liking this any better than he did, and maybe even less. Yuugi sighed before looking behind him as Joey stomped on the bottom of the tub in frustration.

"Dis is no use, we need an herbal-soap token or we'll never get dis ta look even acceptable!" Yuugi cocked his head in confusion as Joey came over to him and helped him out of the bath. "Just go to the foreman and ask for an herbal-soap token okay? He'll know what ta give ya." Yuugi nodded before walking out of the room, wondering where the foreman actually was, and therefore where he was supposed to go to now.

* * *

**For those who didn't understand yet since it's not that clear in the story, the mime is Strings. Since he's about the only character in YGO that doesn't say anything, I figured he'd be the only good character to replace No Face. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and Review!**


	5. 05

**Yo people! I actually almost forgot to update °sweatdrop° I've been watching Naruto like a possessed person (I swear there are too many episodes!) so I nearly forgot. Good thing I remembered ne? Yes, I think so too. Well anyway, have fun with the chap y'all and R&R!

* * *

**

**--: 05 :--**

Mariku frowned as his pen lingered over the papers he was signing. He could feel something coming, something that wasn't good.

He looked up, his eyes scanning the room around him for any sign of danger before standing up and walking over to the window, watching as the rain pounded on the houses outside. He frowned once more. "What scum hides in this dark weather?"

He could feel the disturbance coming from somewhere close and he wondered if whatever was causing this sensation might already be inside. Maybe there was an intruder or something?

* * *

"I'm not wasting a bath-token on you! No matter what kind!" Yuugi bit his bottom lip as he watched the foreman hand out bath-tokens to anyone but him, greeting everyone cheerfully and flirting with the girls. This Duke character was a very strange person, that was for sure. 

"What are you still doing here? I said no! Now scram and use your hands or something." The foreman went right back to his cheerful, flirtatious self.

"But I… I was told it needed an herbal-soap token." Duke merely snorted at him and gave him a downgrading look. That's when Yuugi knew for certain that he wasn't getting the token he needed because he was a human. He was really getting sick and tired of this treatment, but there was nothing he could do really.

"Well that's too bad, you're not getting any. Now go back to the Mutt and get that bath ready!" Yuugi stared in pure disbelief at the man who simply continued to hand out tokens, now completely ignoring him.

He was about to give up and trudge back to Joey with the bad news when suddenly the mime he'd seen so many times somehow fazed into the room right behind Duke. It was like he'd just suddenly appeared there and the shivers once more crawled up his spine. The mime, however, was holding up a token, looking at him questioningly as if asking if he wanted it.

Yuugi nodded ever so slightly, hoping the foreman wouldn't see the strange behaviour and question him about it. Sadly, the foreman did notice, frowning and looking behind him to see what Yuugi was staring at. The mime fazed out again and the foreman couldn't see anything. The floating token didn't even seem to register with him.

Duke was about to tell Yuugi once more to go away when the phone rang. The raven-haired boy frowned one last time at the empty space behind him before taking the phone. "Duke speaking."

As Duke looked away, the bath-token was thrown at Yuugi. Duke's eyes widened as he saw Yuugi catch the token, with a bright smile on his face. Duke had no idea what had just happened but somehow the human brat had gotten his hands on one of their best tokens.

Yuugi of course didn't stick around to hear Duke's reaction to this. He wasn't stupid enough to believe that Duke would let him keep the token if he stayed too long. He quickly ran back in the direction of the big tub, ignoring the shouted protests behind him.

"Hey get back here!" Yuugi was out of sight and Duke still stared in disbelief. How had the boy gotten that token? There was no one else here to give it to him.

-"Is there something wrong?"- Duke quickly concentrated back on the phone call as Mariku's impatient voice came through the phone.

"No sir, of course not. Is something the matter?" Mariku on the other end narrowed his eyes as he stared outside, his senses going haywire.

-"We have an intruder."-

"Is it another human?"

-"I'm not quite sure. It's your job to figure that part out, so _figure it out!_"- The phone was slammed back down and Mariku glared. This was going to be a long day, he could just feel it.

* * *

"Wow Hikari, you got a really good one off Dukie-boy." Joey grinned at the token Yuugi handed him, "He's usually too much of a prick ta give me anything, let alone dis." Yuugi stayed silent about the fact that he really hadn't gotten it from Duke, but some weird mime he'd been seeing a lot. 

"Okay, you just click it onto dis thing." Joey took the token and clicked it onto a ribbon. Yuugi was reminded of the ribbons falling from the ceiling when he'd gone to Seto for work, and suddenly understood what they had been.

"And den we just drop it down dis shaft and Seto'll take care of da rest." Joey dropped the token and Yuugi looked after it curiously, trying to remember what Joey had just done because he might have to do it later on. Who knew how long he was really going to be in this world?

"And den we pull da nice rope hangin' dere and we get water with da stuff Seto makes. Easy enough, so give it a try." Yuugi looked at the rope hanging at the edge of the huge bath. He walked over and pulled it, almost losing his balance and falling but just managing to catch himself. Water began to fill the bath and Yuugi raised his eyebrow at the murky looking water.

"Isn't the water supposed to be clean? What's in it?" Joey chuckled at his question.

"Dried worm salts. Dey say it's good for ya but I personally don't trust da stuff." Joey shrugged, "I'm gonna go get us some breakfast. Just pull da rope again when da bath is full and everythin'll be okay." Yuugi nodded as Joey walked out of the room, a wide mischievous grin on his face. Yuugi had the distinct feeling that Joey would be bringing more than their normal breakfast.

Yuugi just shook his head, a small smile on his face. Well, he wouldn't be starving here. He looked back at the water, still not completely trusting the murkiness but supposing Mariku wouldn't use anything bad if this was a 'high class place', as he'd called it.

He watched for a while until he felt eyes on him once more, the shiver he'd felt quite a few times already, since coming to this world, once more crawling down his spine. He didn't want to turn around, already knowing who was watching him, but he knew he'd have to send him away.

Yuugi turned around to see the mime he'd expected to see standing there. Although the mime had helped him, Yuugi still felt uncomfortable. There was just something off about the guy.

The mime approached him and Yuugi wanted to step off the edge of the bath. Sadly enough he slipped and landed on his ass, once more cursing his clumsiness. He rubbed his behind before looking up and seeing the mime right in front of him. Yuugi wanted to bolt away, but resisted the urge.

"I'm sorry sir, the bath isn't done yet." The mime didn't reply, merely held out his hands filled with bath-tokens. Yuugi stared at them for a second before looking back at the mime.

"Thank you, but I don't need any." The mime pushed his hands forward a couple of times, a few grunts leaving his throat to emphasize the fact that he wanted Yuugi to take the tokens, obviously not able to speak. Yuugi simply shook his head. "I really don't need any more."

The mime stared for a moment longer as he drew back slightly. Yuugi thought he saw a disappointed look on the other's face but he really couldn't be sure. The mime gave one last grunt before fading away again, dropping the tokens to the ground.

Yuugi stared at the spot the mime had been, not understanding what was going on, until he felt water suddenly coming from behind him. Yuugi yelped and jumped up, looking behind him to see the water pouring over the edge of the bath. He cursed once more before he quickly grabbed the rope and pulled it. The water stopped and Yuugi looked at the water around him.

'_Well at least now the floor is a bit cleaner as well.'_ He shook his head before picking up the dropped the tokens and walking to a basket to put them in. If he was going to keep them, he might as well put them somewhere he could find them easily.

* * *

Mariku raced through the bathhouse and to the lowest level, a glare on his face and obviously irritated. He reached the bottom floor to see Duke already staring out of the front door. 

"It's a stink spirit." Mariku's irritation grew as he spoke the words. He hated it when spirits like this came.

"Yeah, and it's an extra smelly one too." Duke looked outside nervously to see if the stink spirit was in sight yet. "And he's heading straight for us."

Outside protests could be heard from people trying to send the spirit away. To no avail, it seemed, as the protests kept coming, obviously not stopping the spirit. Mariku's eyes narrowed as he looked at the stink spirit suspiciously. "Something's not right, that doesn't seem like a stink spirit to me. We have no choice though, let's just go greet him and give him a bath so we can get him out of here as fast as we can."

Panic ensued in the bathhouse and Yuugi looked curiously as everyone ran around, not understanding what was going on. One of the workers ran up to him, "Hikari, Mariku wants to see you right away! He's in the lobby." Yuugi nodded and quickly ran to the lobby. Mariku was waiting for him there, scowling and obviously annoyed. Yuugi swallowed as he approached his boss. "You called for me, Sir?"

"Yes, there's a guest here for the big tub and I want you to help. _Don't_ screw this up."

Yuugi's eyes widened. He'd never given a bath to a spirit before, let alone one worthy of the big tub. And Joey still hadn't returned so what was he supposed to do? "But I-"

"No 'but's or I'll turn you into coal you ungrateful little-" The rest of his sentence was cut short as screams sounded and warnings that the stink spirit had finally arrived. Mariku quickly turned around to play the perfect host, instead of threatening and insulting Yuugi. Everyone else around them ran away as far as they could.

The smell was the second thing that gave away how close the spirit was, and Yuugi used his hands to close his nose. His face was contorted in disgust but Mariku slapped his hands away, "Keep you hands down or you'll insult our guest." His voice was strained and his face didn't look that different from Yuugi's. Yuugi kept his hands down, though the smell was nearly unbearable.

A huge mass of sludge slithered up to them and Yuugi wondered how something like this could even exist. It really looked like a pile of mud of the dirtiest kind ever to him. Mariku tried to smile at his customer, but failed miserably.

"A valued customer, welcome to my bathhouse." The spirit held his hand – or at least Yuugi figured it was a hand – out and Mariku's eyes lit up slightly.

"Money! Take the nice customer's money, Hikari." Yuugi mentally glared at Mariku. He was obviously just trying to avoid getting dirty while still getting his hands on the money. Nonetheless he held his hands out to take the money, and the stink spirit deposited it. Yuugi's face contorted even more at feeling the sludge on his hands, but he managed to stay silent.

"Go give him a bath, Hikari!" Yuugi once more mentally glared. If Mariku wanted the money so bad he should wash the guy himself, not make others to it and still scold them. He once more put it aside and started to lead the spirit to the big bath, putting the money on some random counter just to be rid of it.

Mariku's voice was heard somewhere above him, ordering all windows to be opened as they reached the room with the big tub. The stink spirit oozed forward until he tipped over into the bath, the water once more overflowing and covering the ground in dirty swamp-like water. Yuugi was disgusted but just bit his lip and tried to think of what to do next.

From above them Mariku looked at the scene, grinning wickedly. If Yuugi screwed this up he'd have an excuse to turn the runt into something else. He couldn't help but laugh slightly at the bewildered look on Yuugi's face. "Let's see what he's going to do next."

He watched as Yuugi trudged through the water, trying to get to the shaft you had to let tokens fall down. Duke – who was standing next to Mariku - scowled.

"He's going to refill the tub and waste all our good water!" Mariku didn't really care, very amused by what was going on until he saw Yuugi clicking one of their best tokens to a ribbon. The token fell down the shaft, not having been fastened enough, and Yuugi simply took another one from a basket standing next to him. Mariku glared at that.

"You gave him _more_?!" Duke next to him stared in disbelief.

"I didn't give it to him!"

Yuugi, in the mean time, tried to make his way back to the bath so he could pull the rope. He just hoped that it would be enough to at least clean the stink spirit partly. There was no way he would be able to do anything as long as the other was in this state.

On the other hand, Yuugi had a feeling that this was the normal way to look for a stink spirit.

After he'd finally made his way though the disgusting water he gritted his teeth as he grasped the rope with both hands. He was sure the flow of water would try to wash him away, so he had to hold on tightly. With one hard yank on the rope, the water once more flowing into the bath and immediately over the edge since it had already been filled. Yuugi held on tightly as the force of the water crashed down on him, almost making him lose his grip. He tried to feel around with one hand for something that would give him a better grip, until he accidentally hit something hard in the sludge surrounding the stink spirit.

He blinked under water and fought his way to the surface. The first impact of the water was now gone and Yuugi could now stand. He looked, surprised at the hard object completely hidden in the sludge and felt for it, trying to see what it was but to no avail.

"Hikari! What's goin' on?!" Yuugi looked around to see Joey running into the room with a panicked expression on his face. "Don't worry, Hikari! I won't let him hurt ya!"

"I'm alright, but I think he has a thorn in his side or something." In all honesty Yuugi really didn't know what the hard thing was, but he had to say something.

Above them Mariku narrowed his eyes even more. "A thorn? Ghe, no way." He turned to Duke, "Get the staff down there, _now!_" His order left no room for debate and Duke quickly ran to get everyone down. In the mean time Mariku jumped over the rail of the floor he was standing on, landing in mid-air and hovering just above the water so he wouldn't get wet.

"Listen, that's no stink spirit we have on our hands," he clapped his hands and dark swirling magic appeared between his palms, forming a rope before materializing completely. Mariku threw one end of the rope to Yuugi. "Fasten that rope to whatever it is that's in him!"

"Right!" Yuugi caught the rope and quickly started to tie it around the hard object. Joey was making sure he wouldn't wash away as the rest of the staff entered the room, trudging through the water to get to them.

Yuugi finished tying the rope to the object and looked up at Mariku, "It's tied on!" Mariku nodded, a glare still on his face and his aura radiating suspicion.

"Good, everyone hold on to that rope and pull on my mark! And… _pull! Pull!_" Mariku continued to chant as everyone pulled, some grunting at the effort they had to put in. Yuugi slowly saw whatever was in the stink spirit's body coming out, though he still couldn't make out what it was exactly until they'd pulled it out completely.

"A bicycle?" Yuugi looked confusedly at the bike before noticing that there was more attached to it that was still stuck in the sludge. He heard Mariku murmuring something that sounded like an irritated: 'Knew it', before ordering them all to pull once more. Slowly they pulled out more items – Yuugi didn't even bother looking at what they were exactly, too much concentrated on pulling – until they all fell back, Yuugi, surprisingly, being the only one still standing.

Yuugi climbed up the edge to pull out the last thing that was still in the sludge and a popping sound was heard as wind suddenly escaped the sludge covered body. Yuugi fell into the bath, yelping as he landed in the water. It seemed someone had finally been smart enough to stop the water flow – or maybe Seto had finally run out of water? – For no more water flowed into the bath. Yuugi just sat there, staring at an old looking head floating in the air with wide eyes.

Silence ruled the room as the head smiled at him, "Good job." The spirit's voice was breathy and soft, as if not wanting to disturb the silence around him. Yuugi looked in awe before glancing down at the small item he'd pulled out of the spirit last. It resembled something like a burnt cookie, though a lot softer in feeling. It actually seemed edible and Yuugi had the strange idea that it was a lot more important than it actually looked.

Around him gasps were heard as everyone saw the gold littering the ground among the now watery sludge. All the workers screamed in excitement and made a grab for the money as if their lives depended on it.

Mariku glared at them. The greedy little bastards were trying to steal _his_ money after all. Above that, their guest was still here and this would make a very bad impression. "Back off! Our guest is still here you idiots!" other cries were heard, reprimanding everyone that what they were taking was company property. Mariku glanced back at their guest as a bubbling sound was heard.

"Get out of the way, Hikari. Our guest is leaving." Yuugi nodded dumbly before making sure he wasn't in the path of the spirit. The spirit started to lift into the air, the water around him becoming restless and rising up around him until with a laugh the spirit flew out of the door of the bathhouse and into the night sky.

Cheers were heard and Mariku actually grinned cheerfully as he watched the spirit go. Yuugi was slightly disturbed at the sight of a happy Mariku instead of a scowling one but decided not to say anything. Mariku looked at him, something akin to a proud look in his eyes and Yuugi wondered if the world was going to end.

"Good job, Hikari! That's a very rich and famous spirit!" Mariku looked around at all the gold laying on the floor and his eyes only lit up more. "We made so much!"

There was a great party in the bathhouse that night, everyone getting more food than usual and being in a much better mood. Yuugi was no longer an outcast now that he'd handled this situation so well, and even Duke had congratulated him. Now he was sitting in his and Joey's room, just staring outside into the now sea-like world. The rain had stopped but had flooded nearly everything. Yuugi was reminded of the ocean he'd seen together with Ryou for the first time when he was still a little boy. He shook it off, knowing that becoming homesick would not be a good thing right now.

Joey joined him moments later, still carrying a broad grin on his face at having so much food all of a sudden. He had more food in his hands and handed Yuugi some. "Here, I managed ta take some more." Yuugi smiled briefly at this friend before looking back at the sky.

The sky was as black now as the dragon Yuugi had seen leaving that morning. He somehow knew that that dragon had been Yami, and he wondered where the other had been headed. He hadn't seen the other in the bathhouse all day and he was pretty sure the other was still gone. He was starting to worry.

"Hey Joey, do you know where Yami is?" Yuugi knew the question was odd, a worker asking something like that about his boss when they supposedly had only seen each other once. Joey didn't seem fazed though.

"I dunno, he just vanishes sometimes. Most people say he goes ta do Mariku's dirty work."

Yuugi once more flinched at that. He had promised himself not to doubt Yami anymore, but when he heard stuff like that it was hard. He'd seen the sincerity in Yami's eyes though, the want to protect him, and Yuugi wasn't about to let that image go.

"He actually seems fond of ya. When he first took ya down for work he had dis really protective aura about him. I dunno, just seemed like he didn't want anything to happen to ya. Really weird since he's usually pretty cold." Joey looked thoughtfully into the ocean-like landscape.

Yuugi smiled slightly at Joey's comment, his faith in Yami strengthened by what the blonde next to him had just said. Yes, Yami was obviously Mariku's henchman or whatever, but he wasn't trying to lead anyone into a trap. Yuugi really did believe that.

"Lights out dog-boy!" The blonde grunted in reply, not keen on socializing with anyone that called him by that, before turning off the lights and looking back outside.

The train passed them from below and Yuugi absently followed it with his eyes, his hand coming up for another bite of his food. He glanced down at his other hand to see the small item he'd gotten from the famous river spirit, wondering if it really was edible, before lifting that to his mouth instead and slowly scraping his teeth over it so he could take a little of it.

It tasted bitter in his mouth and Yuugi's senses shot back to full awareness. He nearly choked on his own saliva as he spit the small amount of food out. Joey looked at him in surprise, not understanding what had just gotten into his new friend.

"Hikari? You okay?" Yuugi just kept coughing, trying his hardest to get the taste out of his mouth. He would _not _do that again. That was for sure.

* * *

**And that was the chap. The thing the river spirit gave Chihiro in the anime I never really saw that well (damn my eyes!) so that's why I kept most of that vague. Point is what it does later on anyway so yeah. Well, I'll cya next week (let's all hope I don't forget then °sweatdrop°) and Review!**


	6. 06

**Yo all! No, I did not forget to update this time °grins°. I'm on a roll here. I didn't forget to update this time and I updated 'Let Go' this week as well. Who knows what will happen next after the miracle of 'Let Go' being updated happened °sweatdrop° really shoul ignore school for that... oh well, this is SA you´re here for so ignore my rantings. Hope you all enjoy and R&R!

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--: 06 :--

One of the frogs working at the bathhouse looked around the rooms to make sure no one was there anymore. A small ticking noise caught his attention and he looked in front of him to see a small golden stone bouncing towards him. The frog quickly grabbed it, staring at it as if checking if he was seeing correctly.

"It's gold…" Another small piece of gold bounced to him and he once more caught it, before finally looking up and seeing a mime in one of the baths. "Hey, you're not supposed to be here, the baths are closed!"

The mime just stared, his hand outstretched as more clumps of gold appeared. The frog's eyes widened once more in greed as he stared at the hand.

"You can make gold?" The mime made a few noises as if agreeing and held out his hands. The frog immediately launched himself at the gold to grab it. Just as he was abouyt to grab it, the mime's hands closed around the frog before his mouth turned to a seemingly impossible size and he swallowed the frog whole. Small protesting noises were heard as the frog was swallowed, before all became silent again.

One of the other workers walked by as he heard the noise from the room, glancing inside curiously, "Who's there?! Its way past bedtime, come on!"

He stopped in his tracks as a small clump of gold landed in front of his feet and he stared at it before looking back into the room. He could see someone in there, a mime that was now staring at him, "Hey boss, I'm hungry, starving really! And I want you to serve me."

"That voice, I know that voice." The man's eyes widened as he recognized one of the voices of his workers coming from the mime – who apparently wasn't supposed to be a mime since he spoke. But this wasn't his worker, this was someone else.

"Oh, and after I eat, I want to take a bath too. Here, I'll pay you up front." More gold fell onto the ground to show his wealth and the bathhouse worker's greed kicked in. "Why don't you wake everyone up, huh?"

_

* * *

__Yuugi ran through the large garden leading to the pigpen where his grandfather still was, following the path through the large flowers to run into the small pen. He quickly leaned over the low wooden fence towards the pigs behind it._

"_Grandpa! I have medicine from the river spirit! Maybe if you eat it you'll turn back to a human!"_

_Yuugi bit his lower lip and pulled back from the fence as all pigs in the pen turned to him and came towards him. His eyes widened as he frantically looked over the pigs only to come up with nothing as he tried to find his grandfather._

"_Grandpa? Which one are you?"_

_All pigs squealed as they came closer to the fence, trying to convince him that they were the right pig he was looking for. Yuugi panicked__ and backed away, afraid of all the pigs and panicked that he could not detect his grandfather._

_If he couldn't separate his grandfather from the other pigs, how was he going to bring the older man back to his human form? __How were they going to escape from this world?_

_Would he ever get out of this place?_

* * *

Yuugi's eyes snapped open as he blinked against the light coming from outside. Confused he looked around him to realize he was back in the bedroom he shared with Joey and some of the other workers. He sighed as he relaxed a bit more. 

"It was only a bad dream, nothing more." The doubt the dream had left about finding his grandfather was pushed aside for now, his mind finding it unimportant since there was no way to even get his grandfather back to normal. Fears like that would be left until the time actually came.

After a few seconds Yuugi noticed how quiet it was around him really and rose up a bit to check the room. No one was around him, and the teen frowned, "Where is everyone?"

He got up and walked over to the windows to look out over the landscape. Water was what met his eyes mostly. After the heavy downpour of the day before all the land had been drowned in large amounts of rainwater, making it resemble an ocean of some sorts.

Yuugi's eyes wandered over the landscape to rest on the pigpen his grandfather was in. His doubts returned and he sighed, "I sure hope Grandpa's doing okay."

His eyes stayed on the pigpen for a few moments longer until he noticed large amounts of smoke coming from the chimneys of the bathhouse, signalling that the boiler's were working full force. Yuugi blinked, knowing it was still quite early for everyone to be working already, "Seto's already lit the boilers? What's going on?"

He quickly ran back into the bedroom and dressed, running out of the room and into the actual bathhouse to find out why everyone was already up.

As he exited the room, Joey came running up the stairs with a wide grin on his face, "Hikari! I was just comin' ta wake ya up. We have a new guest and he's loaded! He's givin' da money away like it's nothin'."

From the hall Yuugi could hear people yelling for gold and trying to get the guest to eat what they brought him. Yuugi stared at the door opening to the room where all the commotion was before looking back at Joey. "Who's the guest?"

"Who cares? Some freaky mime dude who talks instead of bein' silent, but I don't really care as long as he gives us money. C'mon, let's get more food before Mariku wakes up." Joey was already running down the steps before Yuugi could answer. Yuugi hesitated for a second before replying.

"I'm going to look for Yami, I'll see you later." Joey rolled his eyes as he looked back up from the bottom of the stairs.

"Stop worryin' about Yami so much, he's fine." Someone passed Joey, yelling at him to come along for more food and Joey followed. Yuugi stared for a moment later as they left, before turning and starting to look for Yami.

He walked along the halls until he reached the balcony again, sighing as he leaned on the banister. "Where is Yami? He better get here before I forget what Grandpa looks like." He rested his head on his crossed arms on the banister as he looked out over the ocean-like landscape. "I sure hope Grandpa hasn't gotten too fat yet."

As he stared into the distance he didn't notice a black blur flying towards the bathhouse. He snapped back to reality as he recognized the black blur as the dragon he'd seen flying away the day before. "Yami?" He followed the dragon with his eyes, staring as what seemed to be birds surrounded the dragon and tried to injure him. The dragon twisted and turned in the air, trying to escape the assault but to no avail. Even as it dove into the water to emerge later on, the birds continued to pursue it.

"Come on, Yami! Fight them!" Yuugi leaned further over the edge to get a better look only to see blood trickling off the snake-like body. Yuugi's eyes widened, "He's hurt. Yami, this way!"

The dragon twisted once more in the air to turn towards the bathhouse and ram into the door right behind Yuugi. Yuugi yelped as he was pushed backwards into the room by the force of Yami's entrance, but quickly tried to close the door again as the birds came after Yami.

The door was quite heavy to shut and some of the birds managed to get inside as Yuugi closed the door again. Yuugi's eyes widened as he saw what the birds really were. "They're paper?"

The paper birds all fell to the ground as the others flew away to wherever they most likely came from. Yuugi stared for a second before focusing on the dragon laying behind him.

Blood was trickling from Yami's mouth, and he looked tired and in pain. Yuugi took a step forwards only to receive a growl from the black dragon before him. "Yami? Its okay, those paper birds are gone now. You're safe."

He tried to come forward again only to receive another growl. Yami lifted his front body off the floor, looking at Yuugi with dazed eyes, before rising completely and lunging forward. Yuugi yelped as he jumped to the side and Yami passed through the door again.

Yuugi ran out of the room and looked up as Yami flew off. He watched him go as the dragon entered one of the windows. "He went up that top window; I need to get there before he bleeds to death!"

Yuugi quickly ran off, trying to get to the room Yami was now in as soon as possible. Because he was so worried he didn't notice one of the paper birds fluttering up and clinging to the back of his shoulder.

* * *

"Welcome, the rich man is hard for you to miss. His butt keeps getting bigger so there's plenty there to kiss. Everybody bow down." One of the bathhouse workers danced ahead as the mime followed through the halls of the bathhouse, all other workers standing at the sides. 

"Welcome rich man." All workers tried to get tips from the mime or 'Rich Man' as they'd named him. They bowed to seem respectful, trying to get more money by getting on the mime's good side.

In the mean time Yuugi darted down the hall, trying to reach the nearest elevator to go up and find Yami. He was so focused on getting there fast that he didn't notice the huge crowd and bumped into someone. The man turned around to give Yuugi an annoyed look. "Where do you think you're going?"

Yuugi took a step back so he could look at the man better, "Up."

"I don't think so; you can't go through here now!" The man tried to shove Yuugi away until he noticed the red liquid on Yuugi's hands. The man's eyes widened, "Blood!"

He backed away and Yuugi was finally able to pass. He hadn't even noticed the blood Yami had left on his hands but people seemed to be afraid of it here. A fact that was getting him to the elevator right now.

As he turned a corner, he saw one of the other workers walking ahead of the mime that he'd been seeing around, and by now in the bathhouse for quite a while. He stopped as all eyes turned to him and the worker right in front of him told him to get away. Yuugi ignored the man and bowed for the mime, "Thank you for helping me earlier sir."

"Don't talk to him you stinking hum…" The man was thrown aside by the mime before he could even finish his sentence. The mime came forward to stand right in front of Yuugi, holding out his hands as gold appeared in them. He made a few noises with his own voice to urge Yuugi to take the gold, but Yuugi shook his head as he looked up in confusion.

The mime tried once more, only to get a similar response. "I don't need any but thanks."

The mime pulled back a little, his noises turning to those of disappointment. Yuugi bit his bottom lip in as he glanced aside. He needed to get to Yami. "I'm sorry, but I really have to go now." He bowed again before passing the mime. He was out of sight before anyone could do anything.

All the other workers immediately jumped at the money that fell from the mime's hands as he watched Yuugi go, not interested in the gold he was holding any longer. The worker that had been thrown aside earlier tried to calm everyone down and keep them away from the money. "I'm terribly sorry sir. You'll have to excuse the little boy. He's only a human and doesn't know any better." He smiled, hoping the mime hadn't been upset by this all.

The mime turned back to the man, his eyes finally leaving the direction Yuugi had run into. His eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke in the voice of the worker he'd eaten before. "Wipe that smile off your face. You're still smiling." He grabbed the man and a female worker that had tried to get some gold before his mouth opened to an incredible size and he swallowed the two. Panic broke loose as everyone tried to get away now.

* * *

Yuugi stepped from one of the windows out on the roof. All elevators had been blocked and people were constantly holding him back so he had decided to try and reach Yami from outside. He knew that there was an old iron ladder going to the top floor out here, but the problem was that he'd have to reach it. The ladder could only be reached if you crossed a gutter first. 

That gutter was old and could fall off any minute.

Yuugi made his way up the roof to reach the gutter and see that the ladder he needed was right in the middle of it. He gulped as he took in the narrow pipe and for a second wanted to go back into the bathhouse and find another way. He knew this was the fastest though, and he needed to get up there as fast as possible.

Taking a deep breath, Yuugi closed his eyes for a second to calm his nerves, before opening them with a determined look in his eyes. He ran over the last bit of roof as fast as he could, continuing that same speed as he stepped onto the gutter and kept running.

For the first couple of steps the gutter seemed to be holding him, until a creaking noise alerted Yuugi that the gutter was coming off the wall. He yelped slightly as the gutter started to come off the wall and he nearly lost his balance, but managed to grab onto the ladder just in time. A second later and he would've fallen off, he was sure of that, so he mentally thanked whatever God was up there for getting him this far.

He took a large gulp of air to calm his pounding heart, before starting to climb to the top of the ladder, and hopefully Yami. The determined look returned to his face as he climbed. He would not let Yami die.

He didn't notice that the paper bird on his shoulder fluttered off him for a second only to reattach itself to the backside of his hair. He didn't notice anything until he looked behind him as if sensing something, and saw the golden falcon with the crazy hair flying towards the building. His eyes widened as he realized Mariku was coming back and would find Yami in the state he was in right now.

Mariku didn't seem like the type of guy to like injured people, and Yuugi doubted he'd give Yami any medical attention.

He quickly pushed himself up against the ladder, hoping Mariku wouldn't spot him. Mariku flew to the top floor without seeing him. Yuugi breathed a sigh of relief, but then looked up determinedly. He needed to get up there.

As he reached the top of the ladder, Yuugi looked at the window now in front of him. It was his only way into the building, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy to go through. It looked pretty locked to him.

Sighing he pushed against the window once, finding it locked – or at least stuck. He gave it an annoyed look before starting to ram into the glass. If the thing wouldn't open, then he'd just break it.

The paper bird on the back of his head fluttered off him again, this time simply fluttering down to slide thought the crack between the window and the frame, only to unlock the window from the inside.

Yuugi threw all his weight into his ramming as the window now suddenly opened and he fell inside. He landed on his back a bit dazedly, wondering why the window had suddenly given away, but then pushed it aside. It didn't matter right now, all that mattered was that he was inside.

He quickly got up, once more not noticing the paper bird attaching itself to him as he ran through the long hallway. He noticed a side passage and quickly turned into it, only to end up in a room full of toys and stuffed animals.

Yuugi walked through the room curiously for a while, looking around and wondering what a room like this was doing in the bathhouse, before hearing Mariku's voice and quickly running to the curtains obviously leading to another room.

"We're in big trouble, I found out who that mime guy is. He's a 'no voice'. It's all your fault, you attract terrible guests. Okay, I'm coming; don't let him eat anyone else until I get down there." Yuugi glanced through the curtains to see Mariku just hanging up the phone. He'd obviously been in a phone call, no doubt with Duke, and Yuugi guessed the 'mime guy' Mariku had spoken off was the mime that had helped him.

"Ugh, Yami's bleeding all over the carpet. Get him out, he'll be dead soon anyway." Yuugi's eyes widened at the statement and even more as he saw Mariku approaching the room he was in. He quickly backed away, looking around him for a hiding place, until he realized the piles of stuffed animals could easily conceal him. He quickly dived into one of the huge piles just before Mariku entered and could see him.

Mariku entered the room and walked over to the stack of stuffed animals Yuugi was hiding in, moving a few of them as if trying to find something. A face suddenly appeared of what seemed to be a huge baby and Mariku got what must've been meant to be a tender look on his face, though it just looked scary to Yuugi.

"There you are sweetie, hiding under your toys again?" The baby made a few sounds as if he was about to cry, and Mariku smiled, "Aw, I woke you and you were sound asleep. Let me give you a kiss." Mariku bend down for a kiss and Yuugi had to hold back his laughter at the sight. He could see everything happening from where he was, his hiding place being very close to where Mariku and the baby were. He swore that this was going to stay with him for a while: Mariku trying to be tender.

"Go back to sleep now." Mariku put the stuffed animals he'd removed back in place so the baby would be covered again before walking away, obviously heading downstairs. Yuugi watched him go and breathed a sigh of relief as Mariku exited the room, glad that the other hadn't found him.

He was about to crawl out from under the toys as he was yanked back with force. Yuugi's head snapped around to see what was holding him, only to come face to face with the baby Mariku had been talking to.

"Ow, let go of me!" Yuugi looked at the baby again, only now really registering the huge size. "Wow, you're a big baby. Would you mind letting go of me? I'm in a really big hurry."

The baby stared at him, not making any move to let go, "You came in here to make me sick." Yuugi just stared in confusion. The baby continued unfazed. "You're a bad germ from outside, aren't you?"

"I'm not a germ, I'm a human! And would you please let go of me?" Yuugi gave the other a pleading look, but the baby was again not fazed.

"You'll get sick if you go outside. So stay here and play with me." The baby kept staring unblinkingly. Yuugi shivered under the intense gaze slightly.

"You won't get sick." For a second it occurred to Yuugi that he was arguing with a baby, but he pushed it aside; getting to Yami was more important.

"Yes you will. That's why I've never left this room."

"Staying in this room is what will make you sick. Listen, someone very important to me is terribly hurt. I've got to go right now so please let go of me." Yuugi tried to wrench his arm free of the killer hold the baby had on it but to no avail. He bit his lip as pain shot through him.

"If you go, I'll cry. And then 'Riku will hear me and 'Riku will come in here and kill you. Play with me or I'll break your arm." The already tight hold on Yuugi's arm was tightened even more and Yuugi cried out a little in pain.

"Ow! That hurts. Please, I'll play with you later okay?" Yuugi gave the other another begging look, but again it didn't seem to have any effect.

"No, I wanna play now!" Again the hold was tightened and small tears appeared in Yuugi's eyes as he tried to stay silent. He gritted his teeth and tried to come up with a solution for the situation he was in right now.

The baby had never left this room because Mariku was afraid the other would get sick. The baby was obviously afraid of germs. Now how to use that to his advantage?

His eyes brightened for a second as he remembered that his hand and part of his sleeve still had blood on them. The man in the hallway had been afraid of it, so the baby would most likely be as well. He quickly stuck out the arm with the blood and held it close to the baby's face, "Germs, I've got germs!"

The baby's eyes widened and he cried out as he pushed Yuugi away from him as fast as possible. Yuugi was thrown to the floor, but quickly recovered and ran into the room where Yami was in. He quickly looked around, searching for either the black dragon or Yami's actual form, only to see the three cushion-like heads attempting to push the black dragon form of Yami into a huge gap in the floor. Yuugi's eyes widened as he immediately ran over to stop the heads.

"What are you doing?! Get away, get back!" Yuugi took the head of the dragon into his arms, frantically checking if the other was still even alive. "Yami, are you alright? Can you hear me? Yami!" The heads kept hopping around him, grunting as if they were trying to chase Yuugi away. Yuugi glared at them.

"Shut up! Can't you see he's hurt!" the small falcon Mariku kept as a pet circled the room, thrashing about in both fright and anger. It attacked Yuugi in an attempt to drive the other away, but Yuugi held his ground firmly.

"Get away!" He tried to drive the falcon away by waving his hands randomly but it kept coming back. That wasn't all he had to worry about though. Cracks were heard from the other room as the baby tried to come out. The curtains were ripped off its holds as Baby landed in the room, before standing up and looking at Yuugi with those intense eyes again.

"I'm not afraid of germs. If you don't play with me I'll cry." Baby was set on finally having someone real to play with, and he wasn't going to pass this chance up.

Yuugi glanced down at Yami still in his arms and then back up at Baby, "Please, just wait!"

"Right now or I'll start crying." Small tears appeared in the baby's eyes as his face scrunched up. The other was obviously about to make his threat come true, and he would probably stop at nothing to get his way. 'Spoiled brat' crossed Yuugi's mind briefly but he was too distracted to really take notice of it.

As the baby started to cry, Yuugi looked around him desperately. Mariku was going to hear and come in here. Then they'd all be in trouble and he probably wouldn't be able to save Yami. Just as he was about to give up completely, a disembodied voice spoke the brief though that had crossed Yuugi's mine earlier.

"You spoiled Brat. Shut your mouth." The voice seemed to snort for a second as the paper bird that had clung to Yuugi flew up and drifted in the air in front of Baby. "You're a bit of a porker, aren't you?" The bird landed on the ground as a see-through person suddenly appeared out of thin air. Yuugi's eyes widened at not only the sudden appearance, but also the likeness this person shared with Mariku. This version looked somewhat less crazy, but dangerous nonetheless.

"'Riku?" The Mariku look-alike gave Baby a bored look, mockery shining in his eyes as he answered.

"You pea-brain, can't you tell me from your father? Geez, we don't look that much alike." He snapped his finger once and Baby's ears started to grow, before his entire body shrunk and he changed into a hamster. The look-alike chuckled a little as he smirked at the changed baby, "There, now your brains fits your body. Now what else to mess with now that I'm here."

Another snap of the blonde's fingers and the falcon that had been floating above Yuugi changed into nothing but a mere fly, as the three heads pilled on top of each other and changed into the form of Baby. Yuugi stared wide-eyed at the scene, fear growing in him as it went on.

The look-alike chuckled again at his work before looking at Yuugi, "This is our little secret. Say one word about it and I'll think of something nice to change you into. I've got plenty of ideas." A mischievous glint appeared I his lavender eyes and Yuugi had no doubt he could make that threat become reality.

Yuugi refrained from backing away as he tried to calm himself down. "Who are you?" His question came out much more confident than he was actually feeling.

"I'm Malik, Mariku's twin brother. It was really nice of you to lead me straight to this dragon's hiding place. Now hand him over to me." It wasn't a request, it was an order. But Yuugi couldn't comply, definitely not after he'd seen what Malik could do.

"What do you want with Yami, he's badly hurt." Yuugi tightened the grip he had on Yami somewhat, refusing to let go.

"Too bad. He stole my solid gold seal. It has great magical powers and I want it back." Malik came closer, not about to let the dragon go so easily.

"Yami wouldn't do that! He's a good person!" Yuugi pulled Yami closer to him again. No way would Yami ever steal, he just knew Yami wouldn't.

Malik just snorted at the words, "Ghe, do you know why he became my brother's apprentice? To steal his magic secrets and now he's stolen my magic seal. He's nothing but a greedy little thief, there's nothing good about him." Malik threw a downgrading look at the nearly unconscious dragon. "Now step away so I can get my seal back. There's a spell on it so whoever steals it will die."

"No, you can't!" Yuugi desperately hugged Yami to his chest. He was sure Malik wouldn't have cared about it but the other's attention was drawn to the heads-turned-Baby as it stomped around the room, trying to squash the baby-turned hamster and falcon-turned-fly. Malik gave them an annoyed look.

"Oh what's wrong with you idiots? Keep quiet! I don't want my brother to come up here." Malik started walking over to the ones causing the noise as Yami lifted his head slightly. Now that Malik was distracted he lifted his tail into the air and quickly snapped it down onto the paper bird laying on the floor unguarded and slashing it in two. Malik whirled around, cursing softly at his own mistake as he vanished into nothingness.

After Yami had slashed the paper bird, he lost his balance. Since he was already on the edge of the gap the heads had tried to push him into, he slowly tipped over the edge. Yuugi cried out as he felt Yami slip away from him and grabbed on tighter, only to be dragged along.

* * *

** Now I do believe this would count as a cliffnanger for all those who haven't seen the movie... °evil grin° Well, I do wanna keep my middle name 'cliffhanger queen' so it was about time I did something with this fic. I'll cya all next week and Review!**


	7. 07

**Yo guys. Believe it or not, early update from me! Yes, fear me XD Well I got a party so yeah, I don't think I'll feel a lot like updating at... I-don't -know-how-late. Yeah... Anyway, R&R!

* * *

**

--: 07 :--

Down, down through the bathhouse Yuugi and Yami fell. Yuugi clutched onto the dragon desperately, not wanting to be separated from the other no matter what. If he was going to die, at least he was going to die together with Yami.

Vaguely he registered two small forms landing on his shoulder. His eyes glanced at the forms briefly, seeing the hamster and fly there but it didn't completely reach his mind as he was too distracted by his current situation.

He closed his eyes, only to see a vague image of water all around him, the feeling of being dragged along by a strong current sweeping through his body, before the feeling of safety enveloped him and the vision faded.

Yuugi snapped his eyes open, the vision still fresh in his memory but not found important enough at the moment to think too much on. His senses returned to him as he frantically looked down at the dragon he was so desperately clutching onto, "Yami!"

Yami's eyes blearily opened a little, the pain he was in making it hard for him to think. He registered his name being called by Yuugi's voice, and the wind rushing past them as fell down. With his last strength he slowed their fall down, no longer able to fly but at least lessening the impact at they reached the ground.

They fell through a wooden floor and finally landed in the boiler room at the bottom of the bathhouse. Yami's effort had indeed lessened the impact and it was most likely the only reason they were still alive right now.

Yuugi let go of his death grip and rolled off Yami, the dragon raising its head and giving the other a pained look. Yuugi looked into crimson depths helplessly as Yami collapsed to the ground.

"What's going on here?!" Seto ran over to Yuugi frantically calling out Yami's name in an effort to keep the other conscious. He slowly approached with narrowed eyes, seeing blood all over Yami's muzzle.

"What's wrong with him?!" Yuugi turned his head and gave Seto a pleading look, hoping the other could help him, before looking back at the dragon in front of him.

"It looks like he's bleeding from the inside…" Seto gave the dragon a thoughtful look. "Maybe he swallowed something?"

Yuugi's eyes widened, remembering what Malik had told him. Malik had said that Yami had stolen his solid gold seal. Although Yuugi didn't want to believe that Yami would ever steal, maybe Yami had swallowed the golden seal and that was what was making him so sick. He bit his lip, trying to come up with an idea to get rid of the seal inside Yami as quickly as possible, until his mind drifted to the strange present the river spirit had given him. He quickly took it out of his pocket.

"Yami, the river spirit gave me this, maybe it'll help!" He tried to feed it to Yami but the half conscious dragon wouldn't open his muzzle one inch. Yuugi kept trying to no avail.

"Come on! Look, it's not bad for you!" Yuugi split the gift in two, pretending to eat one half before quickly putting it away. He might need it for his grandfather later on. Yami didn't respond one bit to the action and Yuugi's hope fell slightly.

He tried opening Yami's muzzle with all his strength, only barely succeeding to even open it slightly, before putting half of what he hoped to be medicine into Yami's mouth. "Finally, I got it!"

Seto frowned at what Yuugi had given Yami for a second. A gift from the river spirit? How had Yuugi even met such a high being? And why had he gotten a gift? He glanced down again as Yuugi determinedly wrapped his arms around Yami's muzzle before hugging it tightly so Yami wouldn't be able to spit out the medicine.

As the dragon tasted the foul taste in his mouth, he started to struggle against Yuugi's hold, trying to open his muzzle to get rid of whatever was in his mouth. Yuugi refused to let go though and Yami had no choice but to swallow. The foul substance only made him struggle more until Yuugi couldn't hold the dragon any longer and had to let go.

Yami spit out the medicine as fast as he could, something else also leaving him and lifting some of the pain that had cut through his body. He fell to the ground completely unconscious from the effort.

Yuugi gave Yami an anxious glance, before looking at what the other had spit out. A small golden seal lay on the ground, a strange looking black creature on top of it. Yuugi stared as the creature looked around itself, before trying to get away as fast as possible.

"Don't let it get away!" Yuugi quickly jumped up at Seto's words and went after the black creature. The creature ran towards the wall with drawers, but the soot balls blocked its path there. It quickly ran back and Yuugi jumped up so he wouldn't step on it. The creature ran around Yuugi's feet completely in panic as Yuugi tried not to step on it, until he felt a strange thick liquid under one of his feet. He looked down in shock to see he had indeed stepped on the creature.

"You killed it? They say those things bring bad luck." Seto gave the now squashed creature a sceptical look, "Though that's of course only superstition."

Yuugi picked up the golden seal still laying on the ground and stared at it as Seto approached him to also get a better look at the golden object. "Yami stole this seal from Malik."

"Malik's solid monogram gold seal? That's as powerful as it gets. No wonder Yami's dying." Yuugi gave a panicked look and ran back to the dragon still unconscious on the floor. Yami couldn't die, he just _couldn't._

A hissing sound was heard and the dragon slowly changed back into the familiar human-like form of Yami. Yuugi was relieved on one hand that Yami was back to normal, but worried on the other since the older was still unconscious.

"Yami? Yami please wake up!" he took the other into his arms, shaking him slightly to receive grunts of protest. Yuugi sighed in relief, now knowing for sure that the other was at least still alive.

"Malik put a curse on the seal, that's why Yami's dying." Seto came closer to inspect the body in Yuugi's arms. It seemed the other was already healing now that the seal was out of his system.

"A curse huh? That's strong magic. It's what's making him so ill." They both put him on a makeshift bed to make the tanned boy more comfortable. Yuugi sat down next to his look-alike, a hand stroking through the hair that was so much like his own, as Seto watched.

"Well, I guess it couldn't be avoided. It had to happen at one point." Yuugi looked up at the blue-eyed boy in confusion, his eyes asking what the other was talking about. Seto let out a sigh.

"Yami showed up here one day, much like you did. He asked for a job but I refused him like I do with everyone. He, too, went to Mariku but something happened. Somehow Mariku saw potential in him and made him his apprentice. From that day forward Yami's eyes grew more steely by the day, his emotions seemingly vanishing." The brunette sat back as he recalled the memory. "I asked him once where he'd come from and why he didn't go back there, but he only said he had no memory of what had happened before he came here. He just wanted to learn the magic Mariku had to offer because he felt he would need it someday."

Yuugi listened silently to the story, at the end looking at Yami with sorrow in his eyes. Yami had told him Mariku had taken his real name, but he'd never said he hadn't had his memories in the first place.

"What if I take the golden seal back to Malik? Maybe then he'll forgive Yami and heal him. Can you tell me where he lives?" He looked up at Seto with pleading eyes. The other gave him a guarded look, before sighing.

"You'd go to Malik for him? Man, you fell harder than I thought." Shaking his head Seto focussed his attention back on Yuugi, "I know how you can get to him, but getting back will be a lot harder. Wait here." He walked away, muttering something about 'being too good for this world' as he went. Yuugi smiled slightly at the older teen. He really wasn't as bad as he pretended to be.

Yuugi quickly got up as Seto rummaged through some drawers, obviously trying to find something. He walked over to the soot balls, the little creatures looking at him curiously, and smiled at them, "I'm going to need my shoes and clothes guys, can you get them for me?" The soot balls enthusiastically went to retrieve what Yuugi'd asked for. In the middle of the group sat the baby-turned-hamster and fly, looking up at him with somewhat confused eyes. Yuugi sighed, realizing just how it must feel to be turned into something you're not. It wasn't much unlike what Mariku had done to his grandfather. He flinched slightly at the thought of the elderly man. "I guess Grandpa will have to wait.

A panel was pushed aside and Joey stuck his head through the gap with searching eyes, relief flooding them as he saw Yuugi. "Hikari! You're safe!" He got up and walked over to Yuugi, frowning at all the blood on the floor. "Dere's blood everywhere! What's goin' on? And who are dose guys?" Joey pointed at the fly and hamster.

The fly flew the hamster up to Yuugi's shoulder and Yuugi smiled lightly at them, "I just picked up some new friends. Don't worry about it."

Joey shrugged before giving the smaller an intense look, "Everyone's lookin' for you upstairs, Mariku's furious! Da guy with all da gold turned out ta be a monster called 'no voice', and he says you let him inta da bathhouse."

Yuugi gave the other a confused look, until realization dawned on him, "Wait, I think I did."

"What!" Joey stared at him wide-eyed.

"Yeah, I thought he was a customer or something."

"He's a monster! He's already swallowed three of our workers!"

Their conversation was interrupted as Seto cried out in triumph. Both looked over to the brunette as the other approached them with a piece of paper in his hand. "Here, you can use these. They're train tickets that'll get you to where Malik lives. His stop is called Swamp bottom, the sixth stop."

Yuugi nodded as he took the tickets, "Swamp bottom, sixth stop." He gave the other a grateful look as Joey looked at his lover with a raised eyebrow. Seto ignored both.

"Now there used to be a train back but it was stopped a long time ago. If you don't get it right, you have a problem. Do you still want to go?"

Yuugi glanced from the tickets in his hands in his hands to Yami laying not too far from him. Determination sparked in his eyes as he nodded, "Yes, I'll walk back along the tracks or something."

Joey looked at the smaller teen, "But what about No Voice?"

"I'll go take care of that first." Yuugi turned away from the two and walked over to Yami, crouching down as he gave the other a worried look-over.

"Don't worry, Yami, I'll be right back. Just hold on." He leaned down and hesitantly pressed his lips to Yami's forehead, slightly embarrassed that Seto and Joey were both watching him, but trying to pay no heed to it. Joey gave the scene a confused look.

"Wait… what's goin' on?"

Seto rolled his eyes and gave the blonde a light swat on the head, "You really are dense sometimes, Pup. It's called love, you should recognize it."

Joey gave his lover an annoyed look, but decided not to comment on it any further.

* * *

Panicked cries were still heard through the bathhouse even now Mariku had taken No Voice into a separate room. Members of the staff still had to bring food in, running out as fast as they could afterwards in horror. 

"It just keeps getting bigger!"

"I don't want to be eaten!"

"What can we do?!"

More was yelled until Yuugi finally walked into the hall on his way to face No Voice and Mariku, hamster and fly on his shoulder. "Look! It's him!" Everyone stared at the small teen but Yuugi's determination didn't falter. He would face No Voice and Mariku and then go to Malik and make sure Yami would be healed. No one was going to stop him this time.

Duke came running to him as he approached the room Mariku and No Voice were in. Duke looked just as panicked as all the others, but a lot happier to see him, "Hikari! Thank God you're here. Mariku's been looking everywhere for you!" Crashes were heard from the room as if someone was throwing with breakable objects and Mariku's voice could be heard in a badly performed soothing tone.

"Don't worry, sir. I'm sure Hikari will be here soon." More crashes and Mariku's voice took its usual hissing and angry tone again as soft curses were muttered.

"Where is Hikari? I want Hikari!" Yuugi supposed this was one of the voices No Voice had stolen by eating people. Joey had told him that the monster No Voice couldn't speak on its own and had to devour others to gain speech. Yuugi vaguely recalled the voice as being one of the workers, but didn't know it enough to put a face to it.

"Here, hurry!" Duke rushed him towards the door before stopping in front of it and poking his head into the room, "Hikari's here, sir."

Mariku was out of the room in a flash. "Finally!" He gave Yuugi a quick glare before putting up his sweet voice again to address No Voice. "Hikari will be there in a few minutes."

Mariku slammed the door shut and gave Yuugi a livid look, "He's destroying everything, and it's costing us a fortune! Now go and suck up to him and get every last bit of gold he's got!" Mariku's eyes flashed dangerously until he noticed the fly and hamster on Yuugi's shoulder. His face grimaced in disgust. "Ew, what's the dirty mouse doing here!?"

Yuugi gave the other a surprised look, "Huh? He's your… He doesn't look familiar?" Yuugi would've expected a part of Mariku to at least sense that the 'mouse' was his precious baby, but apparently Mariku didn't.

"Familiar? Don't be stupid." Mariku snorted and gave the two small creatures a downgrading look before shaking his head and turning his attention back to Yuugi. "Oh never mind about that, just get in there."

Yuugi was pushed into the room, the teen glancing around him as he entered. Food lay all around and the mime he'd seen so often sat on the other side. His eyes looked more alive, an evil glint sparking somewhere in the depths. Yuugi took a deep breath before sitting opposite the other.

No Voice stared at him, before reaching to one of the plates with food and holding it out to Yuugi, "Here, taste it. It's delicious." Yuugi didn't move a muscle and No Voice put the plate away, holding out a hand that slowly filled itself with gold, "Want some gold? I'm not giving it to anyone else."

Again Yuugi didn't give any sign that he was going to take what was being offered to him, and No Voice withdrew with disappointment on his face. "Come closer, Hikari. Tell me what you want and I'll get it for you."

"I would like to leave, sir. I have to go somewhere right now." Images of Yami flashed through Yuugi's head as he watched No Voice withdraw further with a pained expression on his face. "You should go back to where you came from as well, Mariku doesn't want you here in the bathhouse."

No Voice withdrew further, almost reaching the wall behind him. Yuugi gave the other a questioning look, "Don't you have a home to go to? No friends or family that are waiting for you?"

"No, I'm lonely; I don't… have… anyone." No Voice suddenly rose and stepped closer to Yuugi. Yuugi rose as well, stepping backwards to stay away from the creature that could eat him if he wanted to. "What is it that you want?"

No Voice once more took a step closer, "I want Hikari. _I want Hikari!_" His hands stretched out again and gold filled them, "take the gold.'"

Yuugi looked at the offered gold with a little fear now, "Are you going to eat me?" No Voice had already eaten three others and was obviously after Yuugi. What would stop the mime from devouring another person?

"Just take the gold!" The hands were practically shoved in Yuugi's face to force him to take the gold. The hamster on Yuugi's shoulder retaliated by biting the hands instead of letting Yuugi be forced into something. No Voice stared at the small creature and held it to his face, trying to squash it between his hands but the fly had already lifted it off No Voice' hands and flew it back to Yuugi. The teen gave the hamster a grateful look.

Yuugi looked back with somewhat fearful eyes again, before taking the medicine from the river spirit from his pocket. He had wanted to give it to his grandfather, but the greed in the bathhouse was doing something to the mime in front of him, and he felt like he needed to help the other right now. Besides, if this didn't work he would surely be eaten. "If you want to eat me, take this first. I was saving it for my grandfather, but I think you should have it."

Yuugi held his hand out and approached No Voice carefully, before putting the medicine in the other's mouth. No Voice slowly swallowed, not realizing what he was eating until it was already in his body. He reacted violently; his body trying to reject what had been put into it but not able to right away. He trashed in pain before throwing up some kind of black sludge, his system trying to get rid of the substance that was causing the pain.

"Hikari, Hikari what did you give me?" Another cascade of black sludge left the other's mouth before No Voice turned on Yuugi. Yuugi's eyes widened and he took a few steps back, readying himself to run as fast as he could.

No Voice took a few steps towards him and Yuugi quickly turned and ran. No Voice right behind him. They ran into the hallway where all the workers were still gathered, waiting for what was going to happen when Yuugi came out of the room. They were shocked to see a sickly looking No Voice chasing a panicked looking Yuugi. They ran through the hallway, Yuugi heading to the front of the bathhouse to get out of there and hopefully lead No Voice away from the bathhouse.

Mariku glared at the scene as Yuugi and No Voice came closer to where he was waiting, "Enough, I don't care if he's rich, he's got to go." He quickly fired a spell that hit No Voice in the stomach. The added pressure made the mime throw up again, the force of Mariku's spell making the black sludge fly far ahead of him to land on Mariku.

Yuugi didn't look back as he continued to run, he simply couldn't. He needed to keep going no matter what, and he had to keep running _fast_. He just hoped he could get out of there before No Voice got his hands on him.

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**And that was it. Yes, another cliffie but you really should be used to that by now ne? Now go Review and... wait until next week. Most of you have seen the movie anyway. Now my comp's being hogged by my girlfriend so I gotta get off. Feel the love here ****°sweatdrop****°  
DC - ****°smirk****°  
Yeah, that would be her. Bye people**


	8. 08

**My laptop... has died... Yes people, mourn it. You people are all very lucky I had all the chaps to this story on my MP3 player and my dad was nice enough to let me borrow his laptop until mine either gets fixed or I get a new one. Well, to get back to the update, since you're all here for that and not to hear me whining about my precious laptop, this is one of the last chaps. Yes people, SA is almost done! I hope you all enjoy the update and R&R!**

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--: 08 :--

Down the staircases of the bathhouse Yuugi ran. After a few stairs he didn't hear No Voice following him anymore so he turned to see the other looking over the railing of the top floor with a sick expression on his face. Yuugi knew he had to get the other out of there, and the only way to do that was to get the mime to follow him.

"Hey No Voice! Over here!" No Voice' attention was immediately drawn to him and the other started chasing him once more. Yuugi half wished he hadn't called out, but he really didn't have much of a choice. He ran as fast as he could, turning corners without slowing down or falling. He was surprised he hadn't tripped yet, since he had always been clumsy. Running at a speed like this would surely make him-

_Bang_

Trip. Yuugi mentally groaned as he hit the wall opposite one of the stairs. He had tripped on the last step and had run into the wall to catch himself. Yuugi quickly shook himself back to full awareness and ran for the next set of steps. He was just in time as No Voice crashed into the wall right after him.

No Voice took a few steps back after running head-first into the wall, trying to catch Yuugi while he was still dizzy from his own crash. His stomach lurched once more, still trying to get as much out as possible. As he threw up to the side, the two members of the staff he'd eaten last fell to the ground, not a scratch on them and only a confused and disoriented look on their faces.

No Voice ignored the fact that he had lost two people in his stomach and once more chased after Yuugi. The small boy was of far more interest to him than any of the other workers around here. Greed was what had drawn him here, but the boy he wanted right now was the complete opposite of that. No matter what, Yuugi had refused to take his gifts unless absolutely necessary. It both intrigued and frustrated the creature.

Now that No Voice had lost two of the people in his stomach, he was considerably slower. The distance between him and Yuugi grew rapidly and the teen boy was quite happy with that. He didn't feel much like really being eaten by the mime.

Soon Yuugi ran out of the bathhouse and looked over the ocean-like landscape, scanning it for his planned escape. His attention was drawn as he heard his fake name being called by the familiar voice of his blond friend. Joey was waiting for him in a small boat near just under the bridge so Yuugi could easily get in. The teen wasted no time to do just that so Joey could start rowing towards the train stop.

Not long after Yuugi had stepped into the boat, No Voice appeared at the entrance of the bathhouse. Yuugi hesitated for a second, before calling out to him, "Hey! Over here!"

Joey's eyes widened, "Don't call him over!" He glanced back at the creature that had done so much damage to the bathhouse already.

"I think being in the bathhouse makes him crazy. He just needs to get out of there." Yuugi watched as No Voice approached the water's edge.

"And go where?" Joey snorted as he tried to go faster, already hearing a splash as the mime jumped into the water to go after them. "Oh great, now he's followin' us."

Yuugi shrugged, not really caring anymore, "He won't hurt us, not now he's out of that place."

No Voice wadded through the water, trying to catch up to the one he'd been following. He stood still for a second, for one last time lurching and throwing the frog out of his stomach he'd eaten first. With no one in his system, he lost his ability to speak, but he seemed to ignore it as he simply followed after Yuugi once more.

After a minute or so, Joey stopped rowing and leaned back in the boat with a sigh, "You have ta walk from here on; it's too shallow." Yuugi nodded, getting out of the boat to start walking. "Da train station's close just follow da tracks and you'll get dere."

Yuugi nodded once more, now standing in the shallow water, "Thank you, Joey. For everything." The blonde waved it off, before making him run off to the station. He watched the other go, before looking at the mime following after the teen.

Joey's eyes narrowed, "No Voice! If you put even one scratch on that boy you're in _big_ trouble!" Maybe he couldn't make that threat come true, but he hoped it would keep No Voice from hurting his new friend. The small teen didn't seem to be able to defend himself when it came to fighting, so Yuugi would be in big trouble if No Voice did try something.

Yuugi quickly made his way to the train station, the fly and hamster still with him. As he finally saw it come into view, he made a little jump, "Look! There's the station!" Even though he knew the other two could probably see the station themselves, he still felt the need to say it out loud. Quickly he ran onto the platform. The train was already making its way over and stopped in front of Yuugi.

The doors opened and Yuugi looked at the conductor standing in front of him. Of course the man just had to be tall. Yuugi mentally cursed his small size as he fished out the tickets he'd gotten from Seto. "We'd like to go to Swamp bottom please." The conductor took the tickets before glancing aside and raising an eyebrow. Yuugi followed his gaze to see No Voice standing next to him.

"Oh, you'd like to come with us too?" The mime made a few agreeing noises and Yuugi smiled, before turning back to the man in front of him, "He'd like to come too."

The man nodded and took all the tickets. Yuugi and No Voice stepped into the train, the hamster on Yuugi's shoulder and the fly happily buzzing around them.

As the doors closed, the train started to move once more. Yuugi looked around, looking for seat, and spotted one not too far. He quickly walked over to it and sat down with a small satisfied smile on his face. So far everything had gone according to plan. Now if only his visit to Malik would go just as well.

He glanced aside as he heard No Voice grunt a little, looking around him and obviously having no idea what he was supposed to do now. Yuugi held back a chuckle, "Come sit over here." No Voice came over and Yuugi oddly felt like a mother telling her child what to do, "Don't cause anymore trouble okay?" The mime silently sat down and Yuugi relaxed into the seat.

It was a long ride to Swamp bottom and Yuugi found himself staring out of the window, but not really taking in much of his surroundings. His mind was still on Yami and the panic and pain he'd seen in those usually confident eyes. The look didn't suit the other, and Yuugi was determined to erase it from the other's face. All he had to do was convince Malik this wasn't Yami's fault, but Mariku's.

* * *

Yami groaned softly as he opened his eyes, the pain he'd felt before no longer in his system. He glanced around in confusion, trying to remember what had happened, and when he had reverted back to his normal form. 

A few seconds later all his memories came back. Stealing Malik's seal; the pain it had caused him; the paper birds chasing after him; Yuugi saving him; flying to Mariku's; Mariku just wanting him gone; Yuugi saving him once more; Malik appearing; falling to the boiler room; Yuugi making him eat something that tasted so foul he'd thrown up to get it out of his system. After that Yami didn't know what had happened. Where was Yuugi? Why was he laying on a makeshift bad near Seto?

He quickly got up, glad that all his pain was gone, and shook Seto awake. The other opened his eyes grumpily, about to make a nasty remark but Yami didn't even give him the chance. "Seto, don't bother yelling at me, I don't have the time for it. Where's Hikari? What happened?"

Seto grudgingly gave up the urge to yell and calmed himself down. "You blacked out after you fell down here. Don't you remember?"

Yami frowned, "I remember everything that happened before that vaguely, though mostly I just remember being in pain and Hikari trying to help me as best he could…" he trailed off, trying to remember anything after he'd apparently fallen unconscious. "After that I remember Yuugi's voice talking to me, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. It just…" He searched for the right words, "made me feel safe somehow."

Seto chuckled softly and smirked, "You two are far deeper in love than you know." At Yami's sceptical look, Seto's smirk widened.

"After Yuugi gave you that medicine, you threw the seal you stole out of your system. Yuugi's gone to give it back to Malik so he will heal you, but it seems you're just fine. We both know there's only one kind of magic that can break curses so strong." Seto watched as Yami's face shifted from the sceptical look, to one of realization, to disbelief, to a smirk and a predatory glint in the other's eyes.

Yami quickly got up and started walking to the panel that would lead to the elevator. "I need to go have a talk with Mariku."

Seto said nothing as the other left the room, amusement shining in his eyes. He half pitied Mariku now that Yami had finally found a good reason to start fighting back. This was one fight Yami would surely win.

Yami in the meantime followed all the elevators all the way up to Mariku's office. He could hear the other ranting about damage and Yuugi – or Hikari as Mariku was calling him – while members of the staff tried to contradict him without getting killed. Mariku simply continued his rant, now starting to threaten Yuugi's grandfather.

"That old pig should be about ready to eat. Go make some nice bacon out of him."

Yami's eyes narrowed at the words and he stepped into the room, "Wait a minute." Mariku looked at him in surprise, obviously having expected him to be dead by now. Yami held back a smirk at that.

"You're still alive? What do you want?" Mariku didn't seem to care much whether he was or wasn't alive, but Yami brushed it aside. It wasn't as if they had ever really gotten along anyway.

"You still haven't noticed that something precious to you has been replaced?" Yami ignored the glare that was tossed at him because of his lack of respect.

"What got you so brave all of a sudden? Since when do you talk to me like that?" Yami stared at him unwavering, his cold and emotionless mask up once more. Mariku narrowed his eyes on him in suspicion before glancing around the room.

At first he didn't notice anything. His falcon pet was gone, but he was most likely just hunting or something. His baby was still here, so what was the crimson-eyed teen talking about?

Mariku looked back into Yami's eyes, trying to see the answer in them but Yami kept his look carefully closed; Mariku couldn't find anything there.

The noise of his baby eating quite unmannered drew his attention. He glanced at his precious one for a few seconds, before realizing that his baby had never shown his kind of behaviour before.

With one swift movement, Mariku tried to break any possible spell on the overly large baby. It immediately stopped eating, frozen for a second, before splitting into the three heads it really was. Mariku's eyes widened as he watched the three hop to the door, before opening it and making their escape.

Mariku's mouth opened and closed for a couple of times, as if trying to say something but being unable to get his vocal cords to work properly, before jumping out of his chair in rage. The gold he had managed to get off No Voice scattered over the floor before turning into mere dirt. The workers of the staff stared at it in disbelief, "It's just dirt, not gold."

Mariku didn't even hear. He was frantically running through his office and the connecting baby room, trying to find the one thing that was most precious to him. After calling out to his baby for some time and not finding it no matter where he looked, he turned to Yami with a furious look in his eyes.

"You!!" The word was hissed and a shadowy aura formed around Mariku, displaying just how enraged he really was. "You know where he is! Where's my baby!" Mariku rushed over, his hair even wilder than before and the shadowy aura burning around him menacingly. Yami didn't even flinch the slightest bit. He simply stood there, calm as ever as he stared Mariku right in the eyes.

"He's with your brother." The tone was casual, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Something it was definitely not, considering that Baby had never left Mariku's office before.

"Malik?!" Mariku's temper slowly calmed down, the aura disappearing as his rage left him. He stepped back and walked over to his desk, sitting down in his chair as he stared at Yami. "I get it, very smart Yami. You'll get my baby back if I do something for you. What is it you want?"

Yami still stared at him unblinkingly, "Tear up Hikari's contract and return him and his grandfather to the human world." It hurt Yami to say this, knowing he'd fallen in love with his look-alike, but he also knew Yuugi didn't belong here, and wouldn't be happy here no matter what.

"That's all? Fine. But," Mariku smirked dangerously, "I get to give the runt one last test. If he fails, he's mine."

* * *

It was dark by the time Yuugi got to his stop. He, the fly, the hamster, and No Voice out of the train and watched as it disappeared, on to its next stop. Yuugi pulled his jacket a bit closer as a breeze passed by him. He glanced around. "I really hope this is the right stop, come on guys." 

The scenery more than spoke for itself; this had to be Swamp bottom. No other place would look like this. Yuugi continued to glance around as the fly buzzed around his head, carrying the hamster. After a while the fly flew to the ground, tired of carrying the hamster. The hamster simply started walking on its own while he let the fly sit on his back.

Yuugi took a few more steps before noticing the small creature and stopping, holding out his hand for the other to climb up on. "You can sit on my shoulder if you want."

The baby-turned-hamster ignored the hand and simply walked on. Yuugi shrugged and continued as well.

They walked for a little while until a squeaking noise was heard and they all looked into the darkness to see a little lantern jumping their way. The thing connected to the lantern – and what was doing the actual jumping – was a small hand. Yuugi was oddly surprised at finding the sight normal instead of strange. He really had been too long in this world.

The hand halted in front of them, making them all look at it before it turned around and starting to hop into a direction again. Yuugi glanced around for a second before starting to follow the disembodied limb. What did he have to lose? He didn't know where he was going anyway, so why not follow a hand without a body?

They walked on through the darkness; following the light of the lantern as it led them to what they hoped to be Malik's house. After a while a house indeed came into sight. Yuugi looked away from the lantern to stare at the small building. When he looked back, the hand had vanished into the darkness, the trees around them obscuring the light the lantern gave off. Yuugi assumed the house was Malik's and the hand had left since it was no longer needed. That's what he hoped at least.

Yuugi approached the house, stretching his hand out to knock on the door, but it opened on its own accord. "Come in." Yuugi recognized the voice to be Malik's, though it sounded calmer than it had sounded in Mariku's office. Yuugi hesitantly walked into the house, No Voice trailing behind him but standing on the threshold. "Well come on, don't wait for the grass to grow. It really doesn't grow much around here anyway so that would take a _long_ time."

Yuugi smiled a little at the joking manner Malik was now talking in, before turning back to No Voice, "Come on." No Voice complied and stepped into the house as well. The door closed on its own again after him.

Yuugi smiled before walking into the direction Malik's voice had come from. He entered a small living room and sweat dropped at the mess it was in there. Malik was sitting on the couch, not seeming to mind the mess one bit.

"So you finally got here huh? I'd make you some tea, but I don't like it and I'd probably be able to burn the water somehow. Want some coke?" Yuugi blinked as he heard the name of a drink that he also knew in his own world. He silently nodded; still stunned that Malik would have something like that, as Malik went over to another room to most likely get the drinks.

Yuugi shook himself from his stupor and followed Malik into the kitchen, digging the gold seal from his pocket, "Er, sorry. But I came to return this. It's what Yami took from you."

Malik put the glasses down he'd been getting to look at Yuugi's outstretched hand. Indeed, there was his gold seal, still brimming with the magic it possessed.

"Do you even really know what this is?" Malik took the seal and juggled it between his hands. For something so precious to him, Yuugi found that Malik was quite careless with it.

"Yeah, it's the gold seal that you were looking for when you were in Mariku's office. I also came to apologize for Yami. I'm sorry." Yuugi bowed for the other in respect. Malik just snorted.

"He sliced me in two you know, and I'm still angry about that. It really isn't pleasant being cut in half and all." Malik took a closer look at his seal as Yuugi rose again, before frowning, "The protective spell is gone?"

Yuugi bit his lip nervously, "I'm sorry; you mean that black slug that was on it? I kind of stepped on that." He ducked his head slightly as he flushed in embarrassment. His embarrassment soon faded though as he heard Malik laughing softly.

"You stepped on it?" Malik burst out into full laughter at the idea. "That wasn't my slug! My brother put that into Yami so he could make Yami do whatever he wanted. And you stepped on it?!" Malik once more burst into laughter, unable to control himself. Yuugi himself stared at the sandy-blonde, once more too stunned to do anything.

After he had calmed down some more, Malik wiped away the tears in his eyes. "Now then, what happened to the spell? Only true love can break it, you know." He gave Yuugi a suspicious look as the other blushed and looked away. A smirk came onto Malik's face, "Well, that's another mystery solved. I can hear the wedding bells already."

Yuugi spluttered in protest, trying to find the right words but Malik just laughed at him as he poured some coke into the glasses he'd gotten. At last Yuugi found his sense back so he could answer normally. "Yami doesn't even like me that way!"

Malik rolled his eyes as he took the glasses and handed one to Yuugi, "I said true love, as in mutual? Now come on lover boy." Yuugi flushed a deeper red but followed Malik back to the messy living room nonetheless. He needed a change of subject, and he needed one fast.

Seeing the fly and hamster still in their small forms, he found just the subject change he needed. "Can you turn those two back to normal?"

Malik glanced at the two and raised an eyebrow, "The spell on those two wore off long ago, they can go back to normal whenever they want." Malik shrugged as he plopped down on the couch and motioned for Yuugi and No Voice to sit down as well. "Any other questions?"

"Well…" Yuugi hesitated for a second, "What is it between you and Mariku? I mean, he ordered Yami to steal from you and all…"

Malik sighed, "We're twins but complete opposites. He's obsessed with power and money while I'm quite happy to live like I am now, even though it's kind of lonely. In short, we really don't get along."

Yuugi smiled, "Yeah, I figured that much." He sat back as he sipped his coke, before telling Malik what had happened since he'd gotten in this world. Malik listened silently until Yuugi was done before commenting.

"In short, you came here, fell in love with a guy you don't even really know, your grandfather got turned into a pig, and you have to work for my brother? Well isn't your life just peachy." Malik chuckled a bit.

Yuugi sulked at Malik's words, the ones about Yami especially, "I do know Yami. Actually, it seems like I've known him before…" He trailed off, remembering the daydream he'd had when Yami and he fell to the boiler room. The safe feeling that had washed over him before he'd snapped out of that dream reminded him so much of all the times Yami had held him.

Malik just raised an eyebrow before shrugging, "Simple enough then. You probably have met him somehow but you just can't quite remember. Give it some time." Malik grinned, "And while you're thinking, I'm going to steal No Voice for a while to help me clean up this place, I really need to do that again since it's been," Malik was silent for a while as if thinking about how long it had really been, before scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "Damn, I actually forgot how long ago it was."

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**Ghe, I just love Malik °grins° And how he got that coke? Beats me but he really doesn't seem like a tea person °sweatdrop° Hope you all enjoyed and Review people! Have pity on the authoress whose laptop just died. Reviews make it all better... okay, maybe they don´t but it helps so yeah, just go with it. Besides, it was my b-day yesterday AND I passed my exams! Presents are just required so yeah. Review!**


	9. 09

**Well, my laptop is pretty much still dead. As far as I know anyway because I haven't heard a thing since it was taken away for repairs. Thanx for all those who sympathize. Anyway, you';re not here to hear me rant about that, you're here for the chapter. The chapter that marks the end of the movie I might add XD Yes people, I've managed to postpone my main couple getting together until the very end °grins° I hope you all have fun with it so R&R!

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Yuugi stared unseeingly as he tried to figure out what Malik had meant. He let out a sigh as he finally snapped out of his daze and glanced around him. Malik and No Voice were still cleaning up, though Yuugi had to admit the place looked a lot better already. On the other hand, he had no idea how long it had been since Malik and No Voice had started.

After Malik had started the cleaning, Yuugi had thought hard about the memory he'd had. He was convinced it really was a memory, not just some daydream he'd had. The thing was, he really couldn't remember anything. He groaned in annoyance and rubbed his temple. Why was it so hard to remember something?!

He got up and walked over to Malik who was looking through an old box, trying to see what could be thrown away and what not. "Malik? I can't remember anything. Yami could've died and I'm sitting here doing absolutely nothing!" Yuugi looked down at the ground, small tears appearing in his eyes as he thought of Yami being dead. Who knew what might've happened to the other by now? "My Grandpa could've been eaten even."

Malik sighed as he turned around, "Chill and wait just a bit longer. I'm sure he's fine since you broke the protective spell that was making him sick and all."

Yuugi bit his lip as he looked up again, "Are you sure I broke it? I mean, you said…" he trailed off, thinking of what Malik had said. If it was true than Yami loved him, but that just couldn't be.

Could it?

Malik grinned at Yuugi's slight blush, "I said that he'd have to love you for it to work. Now, if you would put your denial aside for a bit, we have a guest." Just as Malik had said it, the wind around the house picked up and the house rattled a bit. Yuugi glanced at the door curiously.

"Who is it?" Malik grinned evilly as he pushed Yuugi towards the door.

"Go check for yourself." Yuugi ignored the look on Malik's face. Malik obviously knew who was behind the door and seeing as he wasn't worried, it couldn't be Mariku or something. That, or Malik wanted him dead after all. Yuugi very much hoped it wasn't the latter.

As soon as Yuugi opened the door and looked outside, his eyes widened as he saw Yami in his dragon form, hovering just above the ground. His eyes shone with life and no more blood was anywhere on his body. Yuugi's eyes lit up at the sight as he ran over to the other.

"Yami!" Yami's dragon form melted away once more to leave an almost exact copy. He smiled as Yuugi ran into his arms, hugging him like there was no tomorrow and rambling total nonsense. Yami got the main point of the ramble though: Yuugi was happy he wasn't dead.

"Shh, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Yami chuckled as Yuugi just hugged him tighter, though he did stop his rambling. Yami slowly lifted the other's face out of his chest – where it had been buried – to see small tears in the other's eyes and a relieved look on his face. Yami's eyes softened, a look he hadn't had for years now.

Slowly he leaned down and pressed his lips softly to Yuugi's. He hoped with all his heart that Seto had been right and Yuugi wouldn't start screaming in his face now that he hated him. To his great relief, he felt Yuugi press back tenderly, accepting the kiss instead of refusing it.

"Well, that was a short denial." At the new voice Yami pulled away, his grip on Yuugi tightening in a protective manner as he stared at a grinning Malik in the door opening.

Malik just tried to look innocent, something he was failing at quite a bit. "Don't worry, he's been here the entire time and I haven't done anything to him so just relax." He pushed away from the door frame he'd been leaning again and approached the two, Yuugi turning in Yami's arms to face the sandy-blonde with a bright smile on his face.

"Now then, I'll forgive you for stealing my seal and everything 'cause I know Mariku made you and all, but you better not try anything again." Malik gave Yami a quick glare, before turning back into his normal self and looking at Yuugi. "No sex before you're eighteen." The look on Yuugi's face was too priceless and Malik burst into laughter. Even Yami chuckled as Yuugi went red.

"Malik!" The blonde just laughed louder at Yuugi's protest and Yuugi went even redder, turning around to bury his face in Yami's chest again. The older just tightened his grip again, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

"Yami, can we please go before he thinks of something else?" Yuugi looked up with pleading amethysts and Yami immediately gave in. Those eyes could most likely make him do anything, and Yami had no defence against it.

Yami stepped back and transformed into his dragon state again so he could fly Yuugi back to Mariku. Yuugi turned around to face a new somewhat calmed down Malik to say goodbye. "Thank you for everything."

Malik waved it off, "No problem, this will annoy Mariku to no end and I just love doing that anyway." The fly and hamster flew past Malik to sit on Yuugi's shoulder, as No Voice stood in the doorway.

Malik turned to the mime with a thoughtful look, "You can stay here if you want. I need someone to help me keep this place a bit more cleaned up so it doesn't look like a tornado just recently hit it." The mime made a few agreeing noises and Malik grinned, "Good, then that's settled."

He turned back to Yuugi, "I hope my brother will let you and your grandfather go. Good luck." Yuugi smiled in gratitude, before quickly running over to Yami and climbing on top of him.

"Thank you for everything, bye!" Yuugi waved as Yami rose into the air and started to fly towards the bathhouse again. Yuugi held on tightly, his arms wrapped securely around the other's snake-like body as they gained speed.

Yuugi enjoyed the scenery for a while as they flew over it, until his vision was replaced with the memory of before again. Water was everywhere around him and he felt all the currents trying to drag him along. Panic shot through him as he remembered trying to reach the surface, but the currents just keeping him down.

Warmth once more surrounded him and pulled him into someone's embrace. Safety flooded him and he clung the one holding him, not able to see his saviour but knowing who it was just by the touch alone.

The memory stirred another memory inside Yuugi that his grandfather had told him. He leaned closer to Yami's ear to tell the other.

"Yami, listen. I just remembered something from a long time ago that I think has something to do with you. When I was little, I was having a picnic with my family near a river. I can't remember that much myself, because I was really young at the time, but my Grandpa told me about it."

He concentrated on the story his grandfather had told him. It had been in the days that his parents were still alive and it had been a beautiful day. His mother had decided they'd go picnic near where they lived and everyone had agreed to it.

"It was a really beautiful day and we were sitting near a river. I had run to it curiously, but dropped one of my shoes into it. Since I was only little I jumped after it because I wanted it back. I nearly drowned that day."

He felt Yami's body go a little stiff at that and he nuzzled into the dragon's skin to relax the other. He hadn't died after all. He focussed back on the story he was telling.

"I don't know how long I'd been under water, but at one point I remember arms wrapping around me and helping me get back to the surface. It wasn't one of my parents or my Grandpa… someone else had been there that day." Yuugi frowned, trying to remember the person he'd felt so safe with, until his eyes widened in realization.

"There had been another person there that day! My parents had had adopted a boy about two years older than me! He'd been living on the streets and needed a home so my parents took him in. He was great at swimming even though he was only two years older and he was the one that saved me." Yuugi looked back at the dragon that had turned his head slightly to face him. Yami's eyes were clouded, as if he was trying his best to remember something that was just out of his reach but knew it was there.

"His name…" Yuugi smiled as he hugged the dragon tighter, "was Atemu. That was you!" The name made Yami's eyes widen as his body went ridged once more. Slowly the form melted away again, leaving them both in human form and trying to reach for each other as they fell to the ground. Somehow Yuugi wasn't worried, he was just happy he'd finally remembered why Yami was so familiar to him.

'_No,_' Yuugi corrected himself as he thought of the other as Yami, _'not Yami, Atemu.'_

Atemu drew Yuugi close to him, using the magic he'd learned in this world to make them hover in the air as he looked at the other lovingly, "I remember now. The day at the river where you fell in. I managed to get you out of the water but then I got pulled along myself again. The next thing I knew, I woke up in front of some weird forest so I tried to look for help and ended up here. I'd completely lost my memory but I still knew I had to get back home because someone was waiting for me." He tightened his grip as Yuugi nuzzled into his chest, "That person was you, you kept me going for all these years and I didn't even know it until now. Thank you."

Atemu closed the gap between them and kissed Yuugi once more, deeper this time. Yuugi responded eagerly, opening his mouth as Atemu asked for permission to enter. The kiss went on for several minutes, until Atemu broke it and slowly started to fly towards Mariku's again, Yuugi still wrapped in his arms. "Let's go rescue your grandfather."

Yuugi nodded and snuggled closer to Atemu. It felt somewhat weird hearing Atemu call Sugoroku 'his grandfather', since he vaguely remembered the other just calling him 'Grandpa', but he supposed after all those years and only spending a year or so with them, he didn't really feel like it was his grandfather.

Besides, if they would really push the matter of Atemu's adoption, what they had would be incest in a way. Although Yuugi couldn't care less about that at the moment, he was sure all others around them would. It was better to leave it the way it was right now.

They flew to the bathhouse just talking about what had happened since Atemu had been dragged off by the river. They both carefully avoided the subject of what was going to happened when Yuugi did get to go back home. Atemu had already told him about the test Mariku was preparing for him, and a part of Yuugi wished he'd fail. At least like that he could stay with Atemu.

As they landed on the other side of the bridge, Yuugi could see Mariku standing in front of his bathhouse, most of the staff looking out of windows or standing on the balconies to see what would happen. Atemu loosened his grip, but didn't let go, glaring defiantly at Mariku and daring the other to do anything to harm the younger in his arms.

Mariku narrowed his eyes as he didn't see his baby anywhere – and Baby was really quite hard to miss since he was so big, "I see you failed to bring back my baby." He hadn't noticed the fly and hamster flying towards him. With a little puff of smoke both turned back into their normal forms, Baby landing on the ground with a loud 'thud' and the falcon resting on Mariku's shoulder.

"My baby!" Mariku forgot everything around him and ran over to Baby, checking him over to see if nothing had happened to him, "Are you alright? Did they do terrible things to you? They didn't make you wear _pink_ right?!"

Yami rolled his eyes at his old master, "Don't forget your promise, Mariku. You said you'd return Yuugi and his grandfather to the human world."

Mariku snorted as he looked back, "It doesn't really look like you want him to go, the way you're holding him, lover boy." The two glared at each other as gasps were heard from the workers and Yuugi blushed slightly, "Anyway, I get to give the runt one last test remember?"

Protests were heard from all the workers, choosing Yuugi's side and not Mariku's, until Mariku roared at them all to shut up. Baby gave the other an angry look. "Stop it 'Riku. Hikari and I had a really good time together so just leave him alone."

"But a deal is a deal! I have to give him a final test!" Mariku glared at the two standing on the other side of the bridge. When had they brainwashed his precious baby?

"If you make Hikari cry I won't like you anymore."

Yuugi decided to stop the argument between Baby and Mariku as the other tried to splutter a protest. "Hey Mariku!" The other turned to look at him, annoyed by the insolent tone. "You're right, a deal's a deal." Yuugi stepped out of Atemu's embrace and walked over the bridge towards Mariku. There was no fear in his eyes; he knew he could do this. He just had to.

Yuugi stopped right in front of Mariku, his look still unwavering and determined, "Okay, I'm ready to take your test."

Mariku snorted, "You've got guts, I'll give you that. Come this way." He led the way to the other side of bridge to ten squealing pigs. Yuugi looked them over hesitantly, before looking back at Mariku questioningly, "See if you can tell which one of them is the old guy."

Yuugi looked back at the pigs, all seemingly trying to get his attention, "You get one try, if you get it right you can go, if not, you're mine." Yuugi gulped before looking at the pigs determinedly again. He could do this, that nightmare would not come true. He wouldn't let it.

He gave all the pigs a careful look-over, trying to find any signs of his grandfather, but found none. He frowned as he looked closely again, but still found nothing, "There has to be something wrong, none of them is my Grandpa." He stared in confusion.

Mariku raised an eyebrow, "None of them? That's your answer?" Yuugi looked one last time before nodding. His grandfather really wasn't there.

Puffs of smoke appeared around all the pigs and they all changed back into workers, probably turned into pigs at one point or another for being lazy. Everyone around them – Mariku excluded – cheered and shouts of: 'you got it!' were heard. Yuugi smiled brightly, knowing he'd been right and he'd passed the test.

Mariku scowled as he saw everything go back to normal. He'd been sure Yuugi would choose someone even if his grandfather wasn't there, but it seemed he was right, "Alright, alright, already. Get out of my sight!"

Yuugi smiled, not the slightest bit fazed by Mariku's tone, and bowed a little, "Thank you." He quickly ran back to Atemu who was still waiting for him on the other side of the bridge.

He quickly grabbed Atemu's hand as he reached the older boy, both making their way quickly into the town and towards the river, "Atemu, where's my Grandpa?"

Atemu kept running as he answered, "When you passed the test he woke up at the other side of the river. He's waiting for you there." The two reached the river in no time. No water was flowing through it now, so Yuugi could cross.

Yuugi turned back as he felt Atemu halt, a regretful look in his crimson eyes, "I'm sorry, Yuugi. But I have to stay for now."

Yuugi looked down at the ground, trying to force back the tears trying to come out, "I figured as much." Before he could say anything else he felt Atemu's lips against his in a gentle kiss again. He pressed back desperately, not wanting to lose the other already.

As they pulled away, Atemu looked deep into Yuugi's eyes, "I'm going to talk to Mariku and tell him I'm quitting. Now that I've finally found my home again, I won't stay here." Yuugi's eyes widened, hope shining in them and Atemu smiled, "Yes, I will come after you. You have to go right now, but one day I will come back to you. I will wait on the other side of the tunnel, so please, if you can, come back to see if I've returned yet."

Yuugi's face lit up in happiness as he hugged Atemu tightly, a smile that could power an entire village on his face, "Of course I will! Every day, I promise."

Atemu smiled as he returned the hug, before pushing away, "Go now, and don't look back until you've passed through the tunnel. We'll see each other soon, Little One." Yuugi nodded, giving the other one last brief kiss before running to the other side of the river and looking for his grandfather.

As he reached the other side of the rocks, he heard his name being called by a familiar voice. He looked up to see his grandfather waiting for him, a worried look on his face. Yuugi smiled as he quickly ran over and hugged the old man, "Grandpa!"

"Where've you been, Yuugi? Don't run off like that or you might get hurt." The irony of the scold nearly made Yuugi laugh. After all, it had been his grandfather that had been turned into a pig, not he. He kept the thoughts to himself though, following the other as they walked towards the tunnel.

He waited just as he was about to enter the tunnel, thinking back to Atemu and he was tempted to look back. He'd already turned his head slightly as he remembered the other's last words, and quickly shook his head. No, he wouldn't look back yet. There would be nothing to see anyway.

"Come on Yuugi! Let's go!" Yuugi quickly ran after his grandfather who was already in the tunnel.

It wasn't until they'd passed through the tunnel that Yuugi turned around and stared into the darkness. Behind him he heard his grandfather gasp as he saw the car. Dust had covered it and plant had already started to entangle it. Of course Sugoroku had no idea how this could be, to him they'd only been there for maybe an hour. Yuugi smiled wryly as his grandfather ranted.

After a few seconds of ranting the elderly man finally got into the car and started the engine, looking up at his motionless grandson staring into the tunnel they'd just come through. "Yuugi, come on, we're leaving."

Yuugi nodded silently, sighing as he turned around and slowly walked back to the car. As his grandfather started driving out of the forest, obviously deciding that going back the way they'd come to find the right turn was probably better than driving around the forest aimlessly, Yuugi remembered the way he'd have to go to find this place again. He promised himself to come back here everyday to find Atemu, no matter what happened or how long it took.

"A new home and school, I guess it's a bit frightening." Sugoroku was talking more to himself than to Yuugi, but Yuugi still smiled. After everything he'd gone through in the spirit world, this all didn't seem like much anymore.

"It's not so bad."

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**Now then, I absolutely hate the end to the movie. By the changes I made some of you might've guessed that already and that I had a different ending in mind, which is why there's an epilogue. I mean, _come on!_ You spend an entire movie getting two people to fall in love and then _split them up again?!?!?_ Yeah, that never sat well with me so you can all look forward to my epilogue next week. I hope to start updating 'Let Go' after that again but with my laptop broken and the story being on there... that can be quite a problem. Anyway, I'll leave you all alone now so you can all Review and I'll see you all next week!**


	10. 10

**And as promised, here's the ****epilogue. So far I've only heard that everyone hated the original SA ending and that you're all very happy about the changes I made. I hope you all enjoyed this story sand that you'll like the epilogue. R&R!**

Yuugi stared off into nothingness as his feet took him along the by now familiar roads to the forest he spend at least an hour a day in. He'd gotten back two months ago by now, and as he had promised, he visited the entrance to the spirit world as often as possible. As often as possible was daily for him.

His grandfather thought he just liked to take long walks to clear his mind from all the schoolwork. Yuugi just let him believe that, even though his school wasn't all that hard and he didn't particularly like to walk long distances. Not that it was all that far anyway to the tunnel, it was only about a fifteen minute walk.

As Yuugi finally snapped out of his thoughts, – thoughts of Atemu and the worries he had for the older still not having show up after two months – Yuugi noticed he was already standing in front of the forest trail his grandfather had thought to be a shortcut. Yuugi smiled a little, glad that the trip had become so natural to him by now that he didn't even have to pay attention anymore.

He quickly took the trail and followed it, only half paying attention to all the greenery around him. His thoughts once more drifted off towards their previous worries and Yuugi sighed.

Why hadn't Atemu come back yet? Surely it shouldn't take him this long to deal with Mariku and come back? Maybe something had really happened and the other needed his help. Maybe he was even _dead!_

Yuugi shook his head. Ideas like those had been plaguing him for a month now but he refused to believe them. Atemu had promised to return to him, and so the older would.

He finally reached the small clearing, the statue still there and seemingly daring anyone to pass through the gateway to the spirit world. Yuugi stared at it for a moment, not wanting to look at the entrance to, once again, see nothing there. He'd seen it too often and each time it made him worry more.

He finally tore his gaze away from the statue and looked at the entrance of the tunnel, expecting to see nothing there but the red building as usual. His eyes widened as he saw a familiar form huddled on the ground just outside the tunnel. The form was shivering and rolled in a tight ball, obviously cold.

'_Well,'_ Yuugi thought as he quickly ran over, _'It is still pretty early, he must've spent the night outside here.'_

He let himself fall to his knees as he turned the form around, a bright smile on his face until he noticed the bruises covering the other's skin. "Atemu… what happened?" His question had been nothing more than a whisper, but the older boy immediately stirred. Crimson eyes slowly and blearily opened, trying to take in their surroundings and focus on everything, until they finally rested on Yuugi.

"Yuugi?" Yuugi nodded, still looking over the other's body with worry. Bruises and cuts both marred the tanned skin. Yuugi didn't see any blood, but he was sure it had been there at one point. He was happy everything had been cleaned before anything could really infect.

"What happened to you?" Atemu slowly rose to sit up, being careful not to go too fast and hurt himself. Without giving an answer, he simply pulled Yuugi close to him and kissed the younger. Yuugi was stunned for a second before returning the kiss. They sat like that for a while until Atemu pulled back with a tired, but content look on his face.

Yuugi settled down in the other's lap, knowing that Atemu probably wouldn't let him go right now, "Atemu?"

The older sighed, before looking down seriously, "I guess you've noticed it took a while for me to get here?" At Yuugi's nod, he continued, "Mariku wouldn't let me go, saying I'd been in the spirit world for so long I belonged there now. No matter what I said he wouldn't listen. I tried to escape a couple of times; just ignoring the fact that he was more powerful. The results are still visible."

Atemu winced as Yuugi slowly traced one of the cuts on his body. It had been one of the newest ones and still hurt. Yuugi pulled away as he noticed the wince, more worry flooding his expression. Atemu gave the younger a weak smile before going on with his story.

"Officially I was still under contract, so Mariku had all the right to do with me as he pleased. Seto and Joey had to treat all the cuts and bruises so many times they swore the spirit world would run out of bandages at one point." He chuckled lightly at the memory.

"So how did you escape then? I mean…" Yuugi trailed off, knowing how powerful Mariku was and seeing the results of many escape attempts on the other's skin. If it had failed so many times, why had that one time been different?

"Well, I have Malik to thank for that." At Yuugi's confused expression, Atemu chuckled again and started to explain.

_Atemu looked around him for the umpteenth time in 5 minutes to check if Mariku hadn't found him yet. He had a feeling it wouldn't take long anymore before the blonde would find out he was attempting another escape, but he needed to try. He would never stop trying._

_At once again seeing nothing around him, the teen let out a sigh before leaving the confines of the bathhouse. It was getting dark outside so the dusk would hide him partly. Sadly, Mariku would wake up soon too. It was the crappy thing about that world. They worked at night and slept at day. The time t__he darkness could hide him from sight was also the busiest time and people would surely find him no matter how quiet he was._

_Atemu hated that world, he really did._

_He snuck through the village, keeping a close eye on all the restaurants __to make sure no one was there yet. So far no one was up yet, but the darkness was getting thicker and Atemu knew it wouldn't be long now. He just hoped he'd be out of the village at least by the time Mariku found him. Maybe he could make a mad dash to the tunnel? Not that he hadn't tried that yet, but anything was better than just staying still._

_He was at the edge of the village when he heard a chuckle. Atemu froze, inwardly cursing that Mariku had found him once again. __Slowly the tanned teen turned around to search for the one who had chuckled, expecting to see Mariku grinning at him madly. For a second he thought he really did see his employer, until he noted the tamer hair-style and less crazy features._

"_Malik?" The teen grinned as he took in Atemu, raising an eyebrow at all the bruises and half-healed cuts on the other's body._

"_Well, I think you've seen better days." Atemu scowled, his rapid heartbeat slowly calming a bit as he realized that Mariku hadn't found him – yet anyway._

"_What are you doing here?" The question had come out somewhat harsh and Malik immediately pretended to be hurt. Of course the other was acting the part, knowing Atemu hadn't meant it harshly, but that didn't mean he had to react normally to it. That would be very out of character for him._

"_You mean you don't _want_ me here? I feel _hurt_ Atemu, plain _hurt_!" The blonde took an overdramatic pose and for a second Atemu was sure he'd even seen fake tears. Malik refrained from it though, knowing that would make too much noise. The village had come to life by now and he didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to them._

_Atemu just rolled his eyes, his posture relaxing a little, "Malik, you do realize you look a lot like your brother and you scared the hell out of me." Malik raised an eyebrow at the statement, glancing at the bathhouse with a frown._

"_And why are sneaking around here, trying to obviously stay away from Mariku?" Atemu stared, stunned that Malik didn't know what had been going on. He'd thought Malik would've at least figured out by now he was trying to run away because Mariku wouldn't just let him go._

"_Mariku doesn't want me to leave the spirit world, so I'm trying to sneak out." The answer was spoken quite flatly and Malik's eyes immediately narrowed._

"_That no good brother of mine won't even let you _go_?!" Malik gave the bathhouse an annoyed look. As usual his brother was being a prick. Someone should really remove the stick the other was bound to have up his ass._

"_You seriously didn't know?" Atemu raised an eyebrow, glancing at the bathhouse for a second to make sure Mariku wasn't coming yet._

"_No, I tend to stay away from whatever the hell my brother is trying to do. If I'd known I would've come sooner to help." Malik rolled his eyes before shrugging._

"_Anyway, since you've obviously failed to escape," his eyes flicked over Atemu's body again, "you better get going while I hold brother dearest back. Don't worry, by the time Mariku gets passed me – if he even does – you'll be long gone."_

_Atemu__ stared for a second longer as a mischievous grin appeared on the other's face. Deciding that he didn't really want to know what Malik was planning and wanting to get out of there as soon as possible anyway, he quickly turned around and started walking away._

"_Thanks, Malik." Upon hearing __wings flapping and coming towards him, Atemu quickly started running. That sound could only mean Mariku was coming. He didn't dare look back right now; he just kept running towards the tunnel. Looking back would only make sure he'd slow down and slowing down was not an option._

_As he reached the river that __divided the human and spirit world, he heard crashes and blasts from behind him. Mariku and Malik had started fighting and Atemu had no idea how long Malik could hold. After all, he had never fought Malik, but he knew Mariku was strong enough to pound him into the floor like it was nothing._

_He crossed the river, cursing the fact that it was full of water and the current was trying to take him with it. He refused to give in, ignoring the pain of his body as the rushing water hit it and just kept going._

_By the time he reached the other side of the river he was panting heavily and completely drenched. His clothes stuck to his body and his hair was drooping down. Atemu fell to the ground to rest for a second, his eyes only half open in exhaustion. He swore he'd never go swimming again unless it was in a pool with _no_ currents._

_He heard a loud scream from behind__ him and snapped back to attention, looking behind him and spotting a golden falcon rushing towards him. Atemu's eyes widened as the teen quickly get up and started to run again. If Mariku was coming after him again, did that mean Malik was hurt now? Well, if Mariku caught up to him he was sure he'd find out._

_He reached the tunnel within the minute, panting heavily as he threw himself into __it. The tunnel was neutral territory. Mariku would have no power over him here. He panted as he fell to the ground in exhaustion._

_He heard an angry roar and looked up with half-lidded eyes as Mariku changed back from his falcon-form to his normal one. Rage burned in crimson-t__inted lavender eyes as Mariku glared at him, all-too aware he couldn't do anything now that Atemu was in the tunnel._

_Atemu smiled weakly, a smile that was meant to be a cocky smirk but lacked the confidence because of Atemu's state. The smile seemed to anger Mariku all the more._

"_You! I swear to every God I'll get you back here one day!" Although Atemu knew Mariku couldn't make that threat come true as he was a spirit and couldn't pass into the human realm, he still shivered at the mere thought. If Mariku ever found a way to come after him, everyone around him would be in danger._

_With effort Atemu got to his feet and with all the energy he had left, managed to get the confident look back on his face that was usually there, "You can't follow, Mariku. Deal with it." He turned his back to his former boss as he heard the other rage, yelling threats that could never be realized. He simply kept walking, trying to ignore his body's desire for rest. He needed to get through the tunnel, and then he'd be able to rest all he wanted._

_The tunnel seemed endless in his opinion but after seemingly __an eternity of walking he finally made it. Darkness had settled in by now and the small opening in the trees didn't let much moonlight come through. Atemu didn't care. He just wanted to sleep and rest. The darkness didn't bother him one bit._

_He fell to the ground, his body no longer able to keep him standing. He winced as felt some of the bruises protesting against the hard ground he was lying on, but couldn't be bothered to comply with their wishes for a better bed. Not that he had any choice anyway; it wasn't like a bed would magically appear out of nowhere just because he would be more comfortable._

_Sleep didn't take long to take him away. Although his body hurt, his exhaustion was far greater and more demanding._

_--: End of Flashback :--_

* * *

Yuugi stared for a minute as Atemu stopped speaking, processing everything he had heard. Atemu seemed content to just sit there, Yuugi in his arms and Mariku far away from him. After a moment, Yuugi snuggled into Atemu as the older glanced down.

"Yuugi?"

The younger just smiled, "I'm just glad you got away from there." Atemu chuckled and held Yuugi close to him. They stayed like that for a while longer until Yuugi suddenly remembered that his grandfather was still waiting for him. Sure, he took long walks, but if he would stay away for too long the older would probably get worried.

Reluctantly he pulled away, gaining a disapproving groan from Atemu. He laughed a bit as he stood and held his hand out for the other, "Come on, Grandpa will get worried about me if I stay away too long. He thinks I take long walks everyday but I don't think he'll like it much if I stay away too long."

Atemu frowned as he got up, wincing slightly as his body protested but ignoring it as best he could. "What are we going to tell him? He'll probably recognize me from when we were still young…" Atemu trailed off, not sure if he wanted to know what kind of reaction the old man would have. Sugoroku had never minded him, but after so much time…?

Yuugi just smiled, "Don't worry. On my walk I found you in the forest and since you were hurt, I decided to take you home with me so I could let Grandpa look you over. Grandpa will probably recognize you, and since you were never officially declared dead everything will be okay."

Atemu stared at Yuugi as they walked before finally speaking, "You put some thought into this, didn't you?"

Yuugi grinned, "Of course, you didn't think I'd be wasting all my time just worrying over you, did you? I actually managed to put my worrying to some practical use as well."

Atemu chuckled before halting and pulling Yuugi close to him. Yuugi let out a started yelp but was silenced by Atemu's lips on his. He quickly melted into the kiss. Minutes later Atemu drew away and brushed Ýuugi's bangs aside, a smile on his face.

"I missed you." Yuugi just smiled back, resting against Atemu and forgetting about the time for a while. His grandfather could wait. After all, he'd found someone that needed help and he'd need to talk to that person to calm him. Yes, Yuugi was becoming pretty good at thinking up excuses why he was late, and he'd be damned if he didn't put that newfound gift to some good use.


End file.
